The Phantom of the Drama Camp
by StrangeGirl
Summary: Strange things begin to occur when Drama Camp puts on The Phantom of the Opera. Could everything be linked to the shadowy figure hanging around in the attic? Of course it could, you dolts. If not, there would be no story! PERMANENTLY DISCONTINUED.
1. First day

**A\N: Well, people , this is my story. Merry Christmas to you all! If you guys like this story, then I'll write some more and put some more up. Yeah. ...come on, read now!**

It was a peaceful morning on a little street in Hermosa Beach. The sun was just coming up, all the inhabitants were asleep, and there was even a bird or two singing! All the wild parties of the previous night were over; all the teenagers who usually disturbed the peace with obnoxious rap and hip-hop music had gone home and been punished by their parents….yes, it truly was a lovely morning.

Too bad it wouldn't stay that way for long.

Suddenly, out of the blue, there came a distant sound from one of the houses near the end of the street. People began to wake up, wondering what it was…what could be making that god-awful sound? As the sound intensified in volume, several people sat up in bed and stared out their windows, trying to think of what the noise reminded them of. Little children rushed to their television sets, thinking they heard the unmistakable sounds of a cartoon playing. And then, simultaneously, all the people on the street knew immediately what the sound was----

Giggling.

Laurel Andersen was standing by her window, the curtains thrown open, _giggling. _No, not even giggling---laughing. _Hysterically _laughing.

The neighbors rolled their eyes. They should have known: today was July 5th, the worst possible day to be up at 6 o'clock in the morning because of the sound that always was coming from this particular house. They quickly reached for their earplugs and carried them back to bed…it was going to be a long, annoying morning once again.

Laurel paused in her almost manical laughter for a moment to sigh rather loudly and shout to the world "I love this day!"

"SHUT UP!" someone in the next house over cried.

Blushing, Laurel quickly closed her window and shut her mouth. She rushed over to her boom-box and started to play some music extremely loudly. She threw open her closet doors and laughed, singing along with the music. "_Video killed the radio star! Video killed the radio star!"_

Today was a good day….a _very _good day. Today was the first day of Drama Camp.

-.-.-.-.-.-..-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Laurel was feeling rather bouncy that morning. She bounced into her clothes, into the kitchen, and to the cabinet, where she bounced up and grabbed a can of strawberry-banana juice. She bounced to the chair, seized her backpack, and then bounced up and down for a few extra seconds while her exhausted mother tiredly prepared her lunch and handed the brown paper bag to her daughter. Laurel grabbed the keys to the car from her mother, bounced out the door, down the steps, and to the car, squealing excitedly all the way.

Even on the drive to Drama Camp, Laurel bounced up and down eagerly in the passenger seat, clutching her backpack to her chest. "Iiiiiiiit's aaaaa typical daaaay…." she sang, "in Doooogpaaaaaatch U.S.AAAAA…."

Her mother sighed as she pulled into the driveway of the theatre where Drama Camp took place. "Hee-re you go, honey," she whined, as Laurel got out of the car. "Ha-ave a nice….day…." and, even whilst struggling to keep her eyes open, Laurel's mother drove away and she was left before the doors of Drama Camp.

Whistling happily, Laurel strutted through the door of the Dance Room, the first room that one had to pass through at the camp. She stared around the room, looking to see if any of her friends had already arrived there, and was rewarded with the sight of two of her friends, Arielle and Sara. "HI PEOPLE!" she yelled at them.

"HI LAUREL," they yelled back.

"HOW ARE YOU GUYS?"

"FINE, BUT CAN WE STOP YELLING NOW?"

"Sure." Laurel walked over to the two, grinning broadly. "So, have you guys picked up your scripts yet?"

"Yeah…we're pretty much finished filling out all the forms and getting all the stuff we need," admitted Arielle. "We came a whole fifteen minutes ago."

Laurel looked at her watch, seeing it to be 8:15, fifteen minutes before Camp started. "Oh well, I came late this year I guess. I'll see you guys later." She walked off to one of the tables that had been set up and got in line to get her script.

As soon as she had gotten her script and filled out all of the necessary forms, Laurel walked out of the dance room and went to sit on a bench outside so she could look through her script. She was surprised to find that Pam, the director, was actually going to do the whole "Point of No Return" scene. Sure, Pam liked taking risks with her shows…but this was only Drama Camp, after all. Since when had a Drama Camp show been PG13 rated?

Laurel was interrupted from her musings by the unsettling feeling that someone was watching her. Slowly, she lifted her head from the crisp, new pages of her script and peered curiously around her. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a boy, obviously new to Drama Camp for she had never seen him before. _God, _she thought, _We certainly don't get a lot of types like him._

The bottom line was, he was unexplainably, uncontrollably….hot. Laurel usually didn't make observations like this, but it wasn't very often that guys looking like _this _showed up to Drama Camp. He had lovely dark brown hair, (not too long and not too short,) and striking blue eyes that seemed to twinkle when the light hit them. He was tall and slender, and had almost painfully white teeth that were now smiling at Laurel as if she was the best thing he had seen all day. She couldn't help but blush.

"Hi," he said.

What was she supposed to say? All intelligent thought had suddenly fled Laurel's brain. _Witty response! Witty response!_

"Er…hi."

_Smooth._

"Sorry if I was interrupting anything you were doing…I just wanted to say hello. I'm new." There was that smile again. _Damn!_ She couldn't think when he smiled at her like that. Finally, she gathered up enough courage within herself to respond.

"Oh, no, it's fine, I wasn't doing anything except looking through the script. I'm Laurel, by the way." She smiled at him, hoping she didn't look as stupid as she felt.

"David. It's really nice to meet you, Laurel." Suddenly, out of the blue—no pun intended---a tall, gangly boy with a blue Mohawk ran up to David and wrapped his arms around the other boy's waist.

"Aww, DAVIDYKINS," yelled the boy in a baby-voice, "IT'S BEEN TOOOOOO LONG!"

"Yeah, sure, Stu," David laughed, returning his hug.

The way the two boys were holding each other made something click in Laurel's head. All the nervousness that she usually had around all the _straight _guys she knew almost instantly evaporated. _Thank god, _she found herself thinking.

"And this is…?" she asked, giggling as she poked Stu's Mohawk.

"Hey!" cried Stu, breaking apart from David and patting his outrageous hairdo, "Do not touch the hair."

David laughed and punched his friend's arm. "Well, Laurel, this is Stewart, my friend from grade school."

"Nice to meet you guys. Both of you." The words were flowing smoothly now…why did she have so much trouble around straight guys? _Why _did she have to be so shy?

All three of them heard a woman's voice calling "Everyone in the theatre!" The doors to the Playhouse officially opened, and the Drama campers began piling inside.

"Oh, well, I guess I'll meet up with you guys later, I'm going to go meet my friends," Laurel told the two guys before her.

"Umm….k. Bye, Laurel," replied David. It wasn't until he was sure that Laurel was out of sight that he sighed, saying to his friend, "God, Stu, how could I ever have thought a girl like _that…_would like a guy like me."

"Come ON, stupid, you've just met her. You've got seven weeks to make her crazy for you!" Stu said, clapping his friend on the back. "By all the spikes on my pointy blue head, this girl will like you before the week is through."

David shook his head, and the two friends headed inside the theatre to join the rest of Drama Camp. Little did they know that someone else had his eye on Laurel----and he was determined to have her, whatever the cost.

This unknown onlooker was not like any of the other teens at camp---you could say he had an almost..._ghostly _persona...


	2. Strange Encounters

**A\N: Yay! A significantly longer chapter! It has been too long, my friends. Thanks to all the people who reviewed...hope you enjoy!**

Soon enough, it was time for the hour-long lunch break that everyone at Drama Camp took. Laurel and her friends practically ran from their various classrooms and down the path to the park where they always ate lunch.

Now, for a bit on Laurel's friends. As are most self-respecting "drama geeks", they could be deemed a little…eccentric. Laurel felt much more at home with these slightly-mad people than she did with anyone at her school, simply because most people did not share her passion for theatre, as her Drama Camp friends certainly did. Her friends were funny and brilliant and wonderfully unique---these were the kinds of people that you first noticed when they walked into a room…not that they clamored for attention, but they simply had an _aura_ that commanded immediate attention.

On with things. Shortly after the group had sat down by their favorite tree and began to eat their lunch, Laurel suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, crap!" she exclaimed, "I left my script in the theatre."

"Well," said one of her friends, Arielle, "would you like any of us to go with you?" Arielle was one of Laurel's more vivacious friends. She was rather short (four foot eight, to be exact,) with long brown hair and large brown eyes. Arielle was spunky and always had something to say---some called her gossipy, but her friends said she was just…talkative.

"No, no, that's all right. It'll only take a minute." Laurel got up and began to walk briskly towards the theatre, where she had left her book during her last class (which happened to be Acting). Soon enough, she reached the theatre doors, and going in from the side, she entered the now-darkened room. _This place is actually kind of creepy when no one is here,_ she thought to herself, _especially since it's so dark. _Laurel had _never _liked the dark; she never knew what was there and what wasn't. She liked knowing exactly what she was dealing with…and when it was dark, she could never be sure.

She felt around for a bit until she found the first row of seats. She bent over and began to search under the seats for her script. After awhile, Laurel had not found her script and was beginning to feel a little scared. It was extremely cold in the theatre (_Hey, what idiot left the air conditioning on?)_ and Laurel had left her jacket in the park with the rest of her stuff. She rubbed her arms, shivering with cold, and sighed in exasperation. For the second time that day, she had the frightening feeling that someone was watching her, and this time she firmly doubted that it was kind-eyed, handsome David.

"Hello Laurel."

Laurel immediately straightened up, stiff with fear. The voice was deep: obviously male. She didn't particularly relish being alone in a dark room with a strange male voice."Who…who's there?" she asked nervously, not moving a muscle.

"No one really important."

"How do you know my name?" Her eyes darted nervously about her, trying in vain to find the source of the voice.

"You could say I…keep an eye on things around here. I know everything." Laurel shivered. It seemed as if the voice was constantly changing places; one minute it was all the way across the room, near the doors, and the other it was whispering in her ear.

"Well…whoever you are…I don't think it's a good idea to be in here, I mean, technically, we're not supposed to be here, so, umm…er…"

"Don't be scared, Laurel," the voice whispered, and she could have sworn she felt a pair of hands rest on her shoulders, "I'm not going to hurt you." Laurel was breathing unevenly now, extremely frightened. The hands on her shoulders moved down to grip her upper arms, and she could feel someone's breath against her ear.

"Just…_please,_" she whispered, "tell me who you are."

"I'm the phantom," he said, laughing, and tore himself away from her. Laurel almost fell backwards from the shock of his sudden departure. She looked down, and found something white gleaming against the floor. She picked it up…it was her script. Extremely relieved, she whirled around and ran to the doors which were faintly outlined in golden light from the outside. She threw open the doors and ran straight ahead, not paying attention to where she was going, just knowing she had to get away. Stopping at a bench, she sat down and ran her fingers over her script, just noticing something tucked into the cover-slip.

It was a blood-red rose.

-------

Laurel loved to sing. That's why she was so nervous right before her last class of the day – Vocals. She didn't know if she had ever wanted anything so badly in her life as the role of Christine Daae in _The Phantom of the Opera_, and she was scared that her vocals classes would mess up her chances. She knew she was a decent actress, and she could dance if need be, but singing was what she had always struggled with since she was a kid. That was why two summers ago she had begged her mother to let her take singing classes. They were expensive, and a lot of the money for the lessons had come out of Laurel's allowance, but it was worth it. Her voice had improved, surely! At least, she _hoped _it had improved.

_Just as long as your voice doesn't crack, _she thought to herself, _and you hit all the notes…at least hit them! Oh, god, I hope I won't sound like an eight year old pop singer wannabe… _She clutched her script to her chest and briskly headed over to the Vocals classroom.

When she got there, eight other girls were sitting in chairs facing a grand piano. By the piano was standing her least favorite counselor: Melynda. Inwardly, Laurel groaned; Melynda was going to be very hard to impress. The first week of Drama Camp was, essentially, one long audition for the musical that they would be performing. Every class, the teachers were watching you, discussing you after Camp hours. Everything you did counted…and now, it is obvious why Laurel was so nervous. She sat down in the last remaining chair and waited for class to begin.

Melynda turned to face the class, smiling a little _too _broadly. "Hello, everyone. Let's start out with some warm-ups, shall we?" She pressed PLAY on the boom box behind her and a rather messily-played chord was heard. "Now, follow me….E….E….EEEEE…..E…..E…"

The girls exchanged glances, but followed in her lead. After a bit of warming up, Melynda paused the tape and told the class, "Now, seeing as this class, for today anyway, is all girls, let's sing 'Think of Me'. Now, everyone, listen to the recording." She took out the warm-up CD and put in another CD, which began to play. "I assume that everyone got one of these CDs at the beginning of camp." The class nodded. "Good, good." The track began to play. It was an instrumental version of "Think of Me". The class listened to it once through, and then Melynda played the song again. This time, the class sang along to the song with the lyrics in their script. Laurel was very happy that she already knew the song by heart, or she would've had some trouble learning it.

"Now," asked Melynda, "Who wants to try it by themselves?" Only a few hands hesitantly were raised into the air – Laurel, a couple of girls Laurel didn't know, and her red-headed friend named Sara.

"Anybody? Anybody? Oh well. Sara, I supposed you can go first." Sara stood up confidently and smiled at Melynda as the teacher started the music.

Sara sang on-key, but what was a little disconcerting about her performance was that she was very…loud. _Very _loud. A nice change, to be sure, from the timid girls who murmured the song they were supposed to sing and expected everyone to hear them, but still, Laurel couldn't help thinking that Sara's voice was rattling everyone's eardrums. Still, her friend sang well, and Melynda made what Laurel guessed to be an appreciative note on the clipboard she was carrying. When Sara had finished, she sat down, positively grinning from ear to ear.

"Laurel, you're next."

Laurel's eyes widened slightly as she stood up, brushing imaginary dust off of her jeans. As Melynda started the music, a thousand thoughts ran through Laurel's brain…_What? What? I can't do it! Yes I can! Think. Breathe. Okay. Okay. I'm gonna be okay. I'm gonna die! Oh crap! I can't believe I'm even doing this. I should just sit down now. I should run away somewhere. Why am I even---_

"_Think of me, think of me fondly…"_

Oh, thank God.

She sang pretty much without fault; at first, a little timidly, but her volume increased with her confidence. By the end of the song, she was even smiling as she sang. By the time she was finished, Laurel was feeling considerably better than she had at the beginning of the class. A few people even clapped as she sat down, and she blushed, extremely happy. As the other girls each stood up to sing the song, she couldn't help thinking that maybe things weren't so bad after all.

Not far from where they were all sitting, in a dark corner of the room, a lonely soul gazed upon Laurel with longing in his clear, green eyes…

-------

Phyllis was not having a good day. (In fact, you could say her day was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, but that would be copyright infringement and the author of this story doesn't have a good lawyer.) First, that morning, Phyllis had woken up late and thus had been fifteen minutes late to Drama Camp. And on the first day, too! Then, on the way to her last class before lunch, she dropped the binder carrying her script and the entire thing exploded. The spine on her beloved binder was broken in half, and she could NOT find any duck-tape, no matter where she went. But these were all minor annoyances compared to what she heard from her friend Laurel as they were waiting to be picked up from Camp.

She had said a strange guy had approached her during lunch in the theatre, not allowing her to see him, and calling himself "The Phantom". "I had no idea what was going on, Phyllis," she had told her friend, fear still lingering in her eyes, "but when I finally found my script, a rose was tucked into the cover-slip."

_Oh shit, _Phyllis had thought, _bloody, **bloody **hell. _She was going to have to have a word with her old friend.

Now, as she walked through the darkened theatre, abandoned for the day, she couldn't help thinking that her friend had finally lost his mind. What the hell had be been thinking? Nothing, that was it. He _hadn't _been thinking. Something large and heavy must've fallen on his head. Yes, that was it. Maybe a rafter. Or a Christmas tree. Or a dead body…

"Hi, Phyllis."

She jumped. "You bloody bastard! You scared me!"

"As is my duty," he said, and Phyllis could see the faint outline of his body bow. "Now, what do I owe to this unexpected visit?"

"You know exactly what, you idiot," she said, annoyed that he had, essentially, ruined the remainder of her day. She swished back her long, black hair and pushed her glasses further up her nose, giving him her best "I'm-pissed-off-and-shouldn't-you-know-it" look.

"I'm afraid I don't," he replied, unfazed.

"How about a clue, then: Laurel Andersen!"

"Hmm." All laughter faded from his voice. "Yes. I saw her."

"More than _saw_, from what she said!"

There was a long, awkward pause. Finally, he stepped into the dim light, where Phyllis could faintly see him. She was reminded, suddenly, of just how tall he was ; she was five foot one, and he towered over her at at the very least five foot nine or ten. He was intimidating, and she reminded himself not to be so cross with him. He wasn't the best guy to piss off, on _any_ day of the week.

"You have no idea," he said quietly, "How good it felt to feel like I was in control of something. It was nice. I'm usually so…so…shy."

"Yes," Phyllis said, sighing, "I understand how you feel. Sort of. But you really shouldn't go around scaring people in order to build your self esteem."

"It's not just higher self esteem I'm after!" he shouted angrily. He took several deep breaths and continued, more softly than before, "I like her."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Something about her just…drew her to me. Something told me that she could understand." He stared at his feet, obviously embarrassed. "I know. It's stupid."

"It's not stupid," Phyllis said, reaching up and patting his shoulder sympathetically, "but you have to be careful. _Really _careful. You're not the only one that could get hurt if this gets messed up."

"I know, I know. I'll be careful."

"Good." She looked at her watch. "Crap! I should go; it's almost four."

"Yeah." Once again, he retreated back into the shadows.

"Stay out of trouble!"

"You know that's like asking a dog to say the alphabet backwards," he said, laughing.

"Your metaphors suck."

"Gee, thanks."

Phyllis closed her eyes, breathing deeply, the sign that he should leave. When she opened her eyes again, he was gone. This is how it always was when she visited him…she never knew where he went. He didn't want anyone to know, but that was all right with her. Just as long as he didn't involve himself in other people's lives, he could do whatever he wanted.

This whole business with Laurel worried her, though. His emotions could run wild when he was provoked, that was something Phyllis knew for a fact. She just hoped that he _really _knew what he was doing – she had the sinking feeling that if everything went wrong, she would be the one everyone would call on to straighten things out. Phyllis the Problem-Fixer. Only time would tell…

**A\N: I'm a bit worried about this chapter. You notice that I'm not revealing what "The Phantom's" name is yet...or what he really looks like. Well, I am the author and I feel like being evil! Anyway, this chapter was hard to write...the beginnings of stories always are hard for me. Too much background info needs to be given out. Please please leave a review! Hope this was worth the wait! Blah!**  



	3. Stu and Sara

**AN: A shorter chapter than usual, but I wanted to get SOMETHING up for you guys. This is just filler...but filler is fun, isn't it? And this goes a little deeper into two of my sub-characters...this story will have sub-plots a plenty:)Anyway, I have an excuse for not putting this up for so long: my computer had a virus on it and has been in the shop for about two weeks. So...it's not my fault! Hope this satisfies you guys. **

**I'd like to dedicate this chapter to a friend who's in the hospital right now. I really hope that everything turns out okay for her in the end. :)**

It was big, hairy, and possibly the most disgusting thing that any of them present had ever seen. It was a spider, and it wasn't even a harmless grey daddy-long-legs...it was a large, black old thing with beady eyes that they swore glowed red. All of them stared at it, several of them shuddered at the sight, but only Sara M. was positively frozen with fear. She tried desperately to stay calm, mentally swearing at herself and hoping that no one else present would discover her arachnid-phobia.

Sara was not the sort of person you would expect to be afraid of spiders. She was tall and tomboyish and decidedly outspoken---the clown of her little group of friends. There never was a dull moment with Sara...everywhere she went, people laughed at things she said. Things were good with Sara's life. She was never the subject of gossip at Drama Camp because she was so well-liked; people never dug into her private life. This was definately a good thing, for what would people say if they knew of her fear of spiders?

They would laugh, that's what they'd do. They'd laugh long and hard, thinking she was kidding around again, thinking it was another joke. Who the hell was _seriously_ afraid of spiders, anyway? Oh yeah. _She_ was. Right.

Everyone in the group was straring at the spider: Arielle, Sara H (there were two Saras in the group, each of which were called by their first name and their last initial,) Colleen, Phyllis, Marissa, Laurel, Andrea, and herself. This was the most interesting thing they had seen all day (which tells you what kind of a day they were all having right off). None of them noticed the blue-haired boy who strode up to their group and began laughing at them.

Sara turned around and glared at the guy. "Who're you?"

"Stu, madame, at your service," Stu said, bowing. Everyone laughed.

"Well," Sara asked, annoyed, "Stu, what the hell's so funny?"

"You guys. All staring at that spider like it was going to destroy the universe!"

Remembering the spider, Sara spun around again, only to find it was gone.

"Hey! You scared it off! That spider was the most interesting thing that's happened all day!" Colleen said jokingly.

"My apologies, then. Perhaps I can win back your trust by engaging you all in enlightening conversation...?" More laughter. Stu grinned---"I'll take that as a 'yes', then,"---and sat down right next to Sara.

Sara was still annoyed with him (although she couldn't really place why,) and only mumbled, "Well la-de-darn-da."

Suddenly, Sara could see another new kid approaching their group. Relieved that there was now a distraction for the guy who was now staring at her (_What's wrong with him, anyway?) _she called, "HEY! YOU! Come over here, umm…"

"David," he said, flashing a winning smile. Sara noticed Laurel blush when he spoke. _Interesting… _

"Oh hello, David old-buddy-old-pal," Stu said, grinning at his friend, "Sit down!"

David sat down between Laurel and Arielle and took out his lunch. "So, how's your day been going?" he asked Laurel.

Laurel opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Colleen. "Same as all of ours: dull. I don't remember this day being so boring last year."

"Yeah," added Marissa quietly. She was the sort of person who was always pretty quiet, even when she was shouting. "I think it's because we're all used to the routine."

It was Friday, the last "audition" day that week. On this day every year, campers were allowed to pick their own classes, which often depended on what sort of part they wanted in the show. People who wanted to be in the Dancer's Chorus went to Dance classes, people who wanted leads went to Vocals classes, and character actors went to Acting. After lunch, everyone gathered in the theatre, where they were presented with their roles.

"I'm so excited!" Phyllis cried happily, "I don't know why you're all so bored---this is fun!"

"I guess so," agreed Sara H. "I'm always really nervous right before we get our parts, though…"

Laurel looked at her watch. "Well, we won't be kept in suspense much longer: It's almost 1:30!"

Everyone packed up their bags and stood up from underneath the tree where they had been sitting. They all began walking up the path, towards the theatre, when Laurel said, "I'll meet you guys later. I have to go to my locker."

"Wait---David can go with you!" Sara said suddenly, pushing David towards Laurel.

David looked happy to be going _anywhere_ with Laurel, and smiled at her as they began walking up the path.

Sara sighed. "Another day---another match made." They would be cute together, that was something Sara was sure of…David was obviously already head-over-heels for her. She noticed that not everyone was happy to see them walking off together, though: Phyllis was looking rather worriedly after them, and peering around herself nervously, as if she suspected someone was hiding in the bushes.

Maybe things were more complicated than they seemed.


	4. Oh, Teenagers and their raging hormones!

**AN: Sorry for taking a long time to update...some VERY SIGNIFICANT THINGS happen in this chapter! Oh yeah, it's getting interesting! The farther into the story I go, the easier it gets! Hope you guys enjoy, and remember---review, review, review!  
**

"All right, everyone, you can be quiet now," Pam, the director of Drama Camp, shouted. Everyone continued talking. "Do I have to put you all in alphabetical order THE FIRST WEEK WE'RE HERE?"

Everyone shut up immediately.

Pam smiled. "Good, good. Now, to business. You all are wonderful performers and we've had a great week, seeing all of your talent."

"Now, when I call your name, you will come up and sit on the stage," Pam continued. "Laurel A., Andrea D., Sara H., Cindy C.,Sara M..."and the list went on for awhile. All of the people who were called grudgingly stood up from their comfy seats in the theatre and went up to sit on the stage as they were told. "Thank you. Everyone on stage is in Cast A, and everyone still sitting in the audience is in Cast B. Everyone, give yourselves a round of applause!" Polite clapping followed. "On to your roles: when I call your name, stand up and you will be given your part. Laurel A. and Marissa F., please stand up." Laurel stood up nervously and stared at Marissa, who was standing across from her in the audience. Marissa was acting calm, but how could she be, especially when Laurel's heart was pounding in her chest?

"I give you---our Christines!"

Laurel distantly heard applause as she sat back down in her spot on the edge of the stage. She was in shock. _Me? Me? Really?_ Then she remembered she was supposed to be happy, no, _overjoyed _at this news, and a delighted smile spread across her face. She received the other actors with thundering applause; she was just so happy, she couldn't help herself. She felt like dancing, singing, jumping up and down. It looked like her friends were equally happy to receive their parts: David and Stu were cast as the Phantom, ("HELL YEAH!" Stu cried, punching his fist in the air,) Sara H. and Colleen were cast as Carlotta, Andrea and Sara M. were cast as ballet-dancers ("HAHAHAHAHA! Wait, you're kidding, right?") and Phyllis was given the part of Madame Giry. However, Arielle was looking rather dejectedly down at her feet, thinking she had been forgotton.

"Arielle S. and Jimmy Q, you are our Managers!"

Dead silence. "What?" Arielle asked, confused. "Jimmy and I are in different casts.."

"Ah!" Pam said, understanding why Arielle was puzzled. "You see, this year I thought it would be kind of funny if we did something different with these parts. You and Jimmy are going to play _both _of the managers!"

"At the same time?" Jimmy called out from the audience.

"At the same time...perhaps with sock-puppets?" Pam laughed, and everyone else clapped a little awkwardly as Jimmy and Arielle sat down.

"Now that's a weird idea," said Arielle to Laurel, who was sitting next to her, "But I can do it."

After a few more minutes, when all the rest of the parts were given out, Pam said that they were free to go to their next (and final) class of the day, which would be with their permanent groups. (An explanation on these "groups": Drama Campers went to all of their classes with their respective groups, which usually included the people they were in scenes with. All of the leads were in one group, all of the dancers were in another group, et-cetera, et-cetera.) Laurel happily walked out of the theatre and to her dance class with her new group in tow, grinning all the way.

-------

**He** was pleased. Laurel was happy, and in the end, that was all that mattered. Things were going even more smoothly than he had expected! He dashed behind the window of the Dance Room and stared inside, intently watching the class within. The teacher was looking through a folder of papers, obviously containing choreography and notes, while her class sat on the floor around her and talked.

He took particular notice of Laurel, who was talking to the brown-haired boy sitting next to her. Something was wrong, though. The boy was obviously nervous, fiddling with his hands as if he didn't know what to do with them. The guy looked up at Laurel, said something, and winked. Laurel laughed---"Oh, David, you're too funny for your own good!" Obviously feeling better, the boy—_David---_placed his hand on top of hers and grinned. Laurel didn't take any notice.

He did. And frankly, he was pissed. This guy was trying to flirt with the only person he had ever really cared about. _No one _deserved Laurel, no one except maybe him. How could this stupid bloke possibly make her happy?

He would just have to do something to put this _David _back in his place…

-------

David was feeling particularly happy that day. He had gotten the part he wanted, the group he wanted, and hopefully, if things went his way, the girl he wanted. As he walked out of his last class, lost in his thoughts, he was suddenly attacked by Stu.

"STU! What the heck was that for?" He yelled, pushing Stu off him.

"David David David!" Stu said excitedly, "Just wanted to catch you before you went home. A bunch of us are going to the mall…in about…well…right now. And you're coming."

"Since when have you been so excited by the mall?" David asked, suspicious.

"Since I got Sara to go with me," Stu said, running a hand through his odd hair.

David snickered. "So, this Sara girl has stolen the heart of our dear Stu?"

"She's one swell gal!" Stu said, snapping his fingers and hopping up and down. "Come on. It'll be fun, everyone'll be there. Besides…you can ask YOU-KNOW-WHO."

Now it was David's turn to be embarrassed. "I'm afraid I don't know who—"

"Starts with an L, ends with an Aurel!"

"Fine. I'll ask her. You satisfied?"

"To the highest degree."

Leaving Stu standing outside of the classroom with a rather smug look on his face, he headed off towards where Laurel was standing, fiddling with the stuff in her locker. "Umm...hi, Laurel," he said, tapping her on the shoulder.

Laurel spun around, obviously surprised at his presence. "Jeez, David, you scared me!"

"Sorry, didn't mean to." David shuffled his feet, feeling Laurel's eyes on him. "Er…well…I was just wondering if you'd like to go to the mall with us."

"Us being..?"

"Me, Stu, Sara…the whole gang." He looked at her expectantly.

"Sure." Laurel closed her locker and grabbed her bag from where it was sitting on the ground next to her feet. "When do we leave?"

"Now, I guess," he said, mentally patting himself on the back. _Maybe I didn't come off as a complete idiot after all._

-------

About half-an-hour later, the happy group was in the food court at the mall, eating and drinking and laughing together. David occasionally glanced over at Laurel, who was always talking to one of her friends, and wondered when would be an opportune time to tell her how he felt about her. He had to tell her soon, that he knew for sure, or else he would scream it out in front of everyone. He couldn't hold it in for much longer.

Seeing Laurel head off to the bathroom, he decided this was his chance. He hurriedly got up and ran---no, _briskly walked, _or he'd get in trouble with the mall police---to the bathrooms, beating Laurel to it. "Hello again," he said.

Laurel looked at him oddly. "Uh, hello, David." She tried to move around him, but David blocked her path. "Umm, excuse me?"

"Sorry, sorry," he said, "but I have to tell you something."

Laurel crossed her arms and looked at him, annoyed. "Okay, but _please _make it quick, I was heading to the bathroom for a reason---"

"I know," he said quickly, embarrassed. "It'll only take a second."

There was an awkward silence. "Well?"

He couldn't do it. The words were on the tip of his tongue, but every time he looked at her he forgot how to speak. He swallowed nervously and then sighed. "I just wanted to say that I…I…I really like you, Laurel." There. He'd said it. He looked expectantly at Laurel, and his heart sank when he realized she was looking at him like he'd gone mad.

"Yeah, David, I like you too," she said slowly. "Was that really all you wanted to tell me? There aren't any meteors crashing down on the face of the planet, or anything?" She shook her head and pushed past him, walking briskly to the bathroom doors.

" Laurel, wait!" David cried, going after her.

Something in his voice made Laurel turn around and stare at him. "What?" she asked quietly.

"What I meant, Laurel, is that I like you as more than a friend!" David said angrily, peering down at a _very _surprised Laurel.

"What…?" She backed up against the wall, obviously confused. "David, are you sure? I mean, aren't you…I mean…you and your friend…aren't you gay?"

David couldn't help himself: he laughed. "Oh, Laurel," he said, smiling widely, "If I were gay, would I do this?" He leaned close to her, took her face in his hands, and kissed her.

A few moments later, he pulled away from her and took a few steps back, leaving Laurel to fumble with the doorknob to the Women's bathroom and step inside. David turned away from the door, and grinning like an idiot, he made his way back to his friends.

Once she was safely inside, Laurel leaned back against the door and touched her lips, hardly believing what just happened. Her first kiss…

She couldn't help feeling a little disappointed, though, that what was supposed to be the highlight of her young life had happened in the corridor outside the bathrooms at the Mall. Somehow, she had imagined this moment to be a little more..._romantic. _

**A\N: Dun dun dun...teehee! I love throwing things like that in. :)**


	5. Stupid radio!

**A\N: Sorry for the delay, everybody! School has been a little trying lately. Anyway, this isn't necessarily my favorite chapter, but you guys have waited too long without having an update, so here you go. There will be more updates soon, and don't worry, it's going to get MUCH more interesting after this. **

**Oh, yes, one more thing...one of my reviewers commented, rather bluntly but truthfully, I must say, that I am a "review whore". This is completely and utterly true. I LOVE REVIEWS, and everyone who has reviewed earns a little star on the Chart of Brilliant People that hangs in one corner of my room. And trust me, you want to be on the Chart of Brilliant People. :) In other words, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks very much!  
**

Phyllis was rather frustrated with her friends at the moment. Something significant had to have happened: David and Laurel were acting too weird to just be happy over the improvs they were currently watching. She did not like it one bit.

Sara M. wasn't being herself either. It seemed like every five seconds, when she thought no one was looking, she would look over at Stu, who was sitting two seats down from her in the audience. Stu would look back at Sara, then look away, Sara would try to get Stu's attention but then quickly gave up, and eventually they began passing notes. This was rather annoying, as Phyllis was sitting between them, and every few seconds was asked to "Please give this to Sara," or "Give this to Stu". After a bit of this, Phyllis was fed up. She turned to Stu and said, rather sharply, "Come on, just switch places with me." They switched seats, and now that Phyllis was alone at the end of the row, she could finally think.

She was rather confused as to why everyone's hormones seemed to be running wild this summer. Even Arielle, she had noticed, was stealing glances at the peculiar kid who was her counterpart! Frankly, she was a little tired of it and wished that things could just go back to the way they were, when they were all friends and didn't have to worry about stupid stuff like this.

_Though they don't seem to be worrying, _she thought disdainfully, _in fact, they seem to be enjoying themselves. _Great. Less worry for them, more for her. Although, she found herself thinking that she shouldn't have to be the one to unravel things when they went wrong. Let them figure things out for themselves---hey, if any of them bit off more than they could chew, it wasn't _her _problem.

Still, she couldn't help stressing over this, especially over the relationship between David and Laurel that had shown up rather suddenly. They were so _stupid _for being so painfully obvious that something was between them---David was touching Laurel every chance he could get, which Laurel responded to with rather obnoxious giggling---and Phyllis's _friend _was stupid for thinking that his crush would just magically start liking him, even though she had no idea who he was! Really, this was too much drama, even for Drama Camp.

How could she get all this stress off her mind, she found herself wondering. And then she knew. She took out her sketchbook from her backpack, along with a pencil, and began to doodle. And thus, Phyllis went to a whole other world, often referred to as "Phyllis's Happy Land," where she could just draw and draw and draw all day long and never have to worry about anything else.

Her happiness was short-lived, however, for about five minutes after she began drawing, Pam announced that it was time for Break. While everyone else headed out the doors and onto the lawn, Phyllis decided she would pay a visit to her friend. She walked down the steps of the auditorium, turned left, went down a hallway, turned left again, went into a room that contained the main power system, up a very _very_ long flight of stairs, and finally she came to a door. She knocked four times upon the door, and waited patiently for him to answer it.

Phyllis didn't have to wait for long; the door was soon opened by her friend. "What do you want?"

"Is it such a crime to want to visit you every now and then?" Phyllis asked, grinning.

"I'm busy," he said, closing the door behind him and standing on the short landing in front of it. "You can come back later."

"What are you doing?"

"None of your business," he said, looking down at her menacingly.

Phyllis sighed. "Fine. I just wanted to tell you that if you ever want to get Laurel's attention, you should do so soon."

He looked at her sharply, and Phyllis thought she could see worry in his eyes. "Why?"

She chose her words wisely. "No particular reason…but I'm just saying, someone else might snatch her up."

His eyes narrowed. "They wouldn't dare."

"I'd say they would. It's not like they know you even exist!"

Silence. Then--- "Well, then, maybe I shall have to make myself known…" He opened the door and stepped inside, and was about to close it when he turned around and said, "In the meantime, I trust you will keep things in order. You've always been good at that." Slam.

Phyllis rolled her eyes. He could be such a drama queen…

-------

Laurel was having mixed feelings about what had happened with David on Friday. To be quite honest, she liked him better when they were just friends, in that time before he kissed her. Now, things were awkward and weird, and Laurel never knew what to say to him anymore. David seemed to want to move things along a little faster than Laurel was comfortable with; she wasn't sure she was ready to have a boyfriend at all, let alone someone she barely knew. After all, they had only been friends with him for a week, and yet David said he had _feelings_ for her. Laurel didn't want to hurt David's feelings (he just looked so _happy _whenever she even glanced in his direction!) but she didn't think it was right to make David think she returned his feelings when she wasn't sure of anything herself. She didn't want to be thought of as deceptive!

As she packed up her bag to leave the theatre, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty for having led David on. All through their last class (which happened to be Blocking,) he had sat next to her and touched her hand, which left her feeling a little uncomfortable but tingly and weird at the same time. She didn't want him to think that he disgusted her, so she smiled at him when he touched her and tried to make herself believe that this was the best thing that had ever happened to her and that she was a fool if she turned David away. She wasn't being very successful.

She couldn't help but feel a little relieved when class was over and everyone started to leave the theatre. She let everyone leave before her, putting everything in her bag very slowly so that she would be the last one out of the theatre. She had a feeling that what she needed was a few moments alone to gather her thoughts, and then she would be fine. She slunk low in her seat to make sure that no one would notice that she was still there. When she was sure that everyone (even David, thank god,) had left, she sat up in her seat and sighed loudly, closing her eyes and letting the air conditioning cool her off.

Suddenly, she heard a strange noise that made her sit up straight in her seat and her eyes snap open. The theatre was almost pitch black, the only light coming from the cracks between the doors that led to the outside. Laurel shivered, the cool air no longer welcome, and fumbled for her bag. She had a feeling that she would feel much more at peace if she gathered her thoughts somewhere else, preferably somewhere with light. She suddenly remembered the last time she had been in the theatre when she thought she had been alone, and the memory made her quake with fear.

"Hello."

_What? _ Laurel held her bag to her chest and closed her eyes tightly. "Whoever you are, please leave me alone. I haven't done anything bad, have I?" she whispered fearfully, knowing that if she tried to speak any louder, her voice would crack.

The strange voice said something else, but Laurel didn't quite catch it. "What?" she said, a little louder. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear."

The murmur was a little louder.

"What?"

There was an exasperated sigh (from the direction of the booth? Laurel couldn't tell for sure,) and she could hear a slight tapping sound.

Laurel suddenly and unexplainably found the whole situation unbearably funny. "Maybe," she said clearly, laughter in her voice, "if you're using a microphone, you could turn the sound system up a few points."

There was a small chuckle, and she could have sworn that she heard footsteps moving from one side of the technical booth to the other. Out of nowhere, _extremely loudly,_ there came the unmistakable sounds of the radio playing a commercial---"You know OUR cheese is the best cheese!"---and then the voice cursed, and the radio was abruptly switched off. "Sorry," the voice said, loud and clear. "Wrong button."

Laurel clapped her hand to her mouth, trying not to laugh, but eventually failed and burst into laughter. She couldn't remember anything being this funny in days...maybe it was the strange situation that made her want to burst into tears and jump up and down at the same time, and maybe it was just because she was exhausted and confused, but whatever it was, she was happy for this moment and forgot to feel uncomfortable and frightened.

"I'm sorry if I startled you," the voice said rather sincerely. "I wanted to talk to you."

Laurel immediately sobered. "How can I be sure that I can trust you?" she asked, skeptical of the mysterious voice.

" Laurel," the voice said, "I know this may not seem like anything to you, but I can honestly say that I would never do anything at all to hurt you."

Normally, Laurel wouldn't have trusted a disembodied voice that she didn't even know, but something in this strange person's voice made her want to trust him. After a pause, she said: "Then I will trust you.

The shadowed figure that presently was standing in the booth smiled. _What a relief, _he thought, _Now I have all the time in the world to win her affections. _


	6. The hyperactivity of Arielle

**A\N: Ohmygod, I love love LOVE you guys...and that is why I have this next chappie up so quickly. I know two of my readers will PARTICUARLY like this chapter...well, here ya go. Thanks everyone for their encouragement! Oh, and I'm glad someone thought the cheese thing was funny. :)**

Arielle was in desperate need of a nice piece of juicy gossip.

Normally, Drama Camp could be described as rather soap-opera-y, with lots of "he-likes-her" and "she-likes-him" and "oh-my-god-did-you-hear-about-that-one-thing-that-happened-that-one-time" conversations, but this year seemed to be sorely lacking. Sure, there was that whole Stu-Sara M.\David-Laurel thing, but that news had died down after a few days, especially since both couples were so open about what was going on with them.

Well, sort of. To be truthful, Sara and Stu had simply run away, laughing hysterically at some inside joke, when Arielle had asked them about their relationship, and Laurel had stood silent while David talked about how much they liked each other when _they_ had been asked. Still, all that was old news. Arielle needed something _fresh _to talk about.

Fortunately, she didn't have to wait for long. As she was gathering her stuff together after Drama Camp, she heard her friends Andrea and Sara H. talking quietly by their lockers. She only had to lean a little to the left to clearly hear everything they were saying.

"Do you know where Laurel's been lately? It seems like I can never find her after Camp," Sara H. asked Andrea.

"I've noticed," Andrea replied, "that every day after the last class, she just goes into the theatre and stays there. She's been doing it for over a week!"

"What's she doing?"

"How would I know? I never go in there after Camp, it's too creepy!"

Sara H. sighed. "It obviously can't be creepy enough to keep Laurel from going in there, why shouldn't we? She's our friend, it's our _duty _to find out what's up with her."

"What if she doesn't want us to know? What if it's something _private?_" Andrea whispered angrily.

Arielle couldn't help but interrupt. "I couldn't help but overhear," she said, going up to the girls and patting Andrea on the shoulder reassuringly. "Personally, I think that Sara's right; Laurel could be involved in something dangerous. We should find out what it is, and try to get her out of it."

"Pshh," Andrea scoffed, pulling Arielle's hand off her shoulder. "Yeah right. It's _Laurel_ for god's sakes. Both of you know as well as I do that when it comes to dangerous things, Laurel wimps out. There's no chance she's in something THAT bad."

Arielle sighed. "Andrea, Andrea, Andrea," she said, shaking her head and smiling, "Who knows what Laurel would do? She could have a secret double life or something! And wouldn't it be just delicious if we could unveil it?"

Andrea rolled her eyes. "You guys have fun with that. Sara, if you want to, you can pretend you're on CSI or whatever and Laurel's involved in some super secret spy cult thing--"

"Super secret spy cult thing?" Sara asked, laughing.

"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN! And you, Arielle, you can pretend to be all lovey-dovey and caring for your friend, and in the process get some new gossip or whatever the heck you are always getting so excited about, but I'll tell you one thing—I'm not going to be apart of it!" Andrea exclaimed, grabbing her backpack and storming off in a huff.

Sara's eyes widened. "Wow," she said, watching the petite, dark haired girl walk off, "I didn't know Andrea had that much anger in her."

Arielle grinned knowingly at Sara. "You'd be surprised what comes out of that girl's mouth, especially when you wake her up at 2 o'clock in the morning whilst having a crazy sleepover-party."

"So, what are we gonna do about this Laurel thing?"

Arielle grinned deviously. "Be extra quiet, wait until most everyone's gone, and then sneak into the theatre and see what Laurel's up to."

Now with a concrete plan to follow by, the two girls crouched near the lockers, earnestly waiting until the Drama Campers filed out of campus. When they were sure almost everyone had gone, they scurried over to the lobby-entrance and eagerly hurried through the first set of doors, through the lobby, and the second set of doors leading directly to the theatre.

Sara was feeling a little worried now that they actually were in the dark theatre, and turned to Arielle, saying "Arielle, are you sure this is a good----"

Arielle pressed her finger to her lips and made a very scary-looking face, and Sara took this as meaning that she wanted her to shut up promptly.

"Do you really think I was all right?" came Laurel's voice, coming from the seats slightly above them, "My voice cracked _twice _during blocking today."

Arielle and Sara gave each other very confused when a deep, male voice answered her. "You were fine. Believe me, no one noticed at all."

"Did you notice?"

"No," the voice said. " Laurel, you have to stop doubting yourself so much. You have a lovely voice."

Arielle could have sworn she heard Laurel giggle softly. "Oh, I know you're just saying that."

"I would never lie to you," the voice said softly. Arielle suddenly felt very guilty for intruding on something that was more private and personal than she had thought. Maybe Andrea was right---there were just some things that shouldn't be meddled with.

"Sara," she whispered earnestly, "I think we'd better go now."

Sara frowned. "What?" she mouthed, "I can't hear you."

"I think we should go," Arielle said a little louder.

Sara shook her head and pointed to her ear, shrugging.

"I SAID, I THINK WE SHOULD GO!" Arielle said, a little too loudly. She immediately clapped her hand to her mouth and gestured frantically for them both to scram.

As they made their way back through the theatre to the entrance to the lobby, Arielle heard the voice say, "Excuse me, I think I heard something. I'll be right back."

_Oh crap! _Arielle thought, _Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap--- _

She was suddenly stopped in her tracks by a large shadowy figure standing in front of her. Arielle tilted her head and gazed up at the tall person, suddenly _very _afraid.

"It would be best," the person said---it was the voice that was talking to Laurel earlier---"if you were not to come in here again. I don't enjoy my private affairs being meddled with…if you know what I mean." The figure leaned down and looked straight into Arielle's eyes, and the poor girl found herself thoroughly creeped out.

"Who are you?" she asked in a very small voice, noting Sara slipping through the lobby door and leaving her with this strange guy. _Gee, thanks, buddy. _

She detected a smile appearing on the shadowy figure's face. "I suppose that you could call me…the Phantom?" He laughed, rather sinisterly, he thought, and pushed Arielle through the door, disappearing.

Arielle's fear evaporated as soon as she was in the brightly lit lobby, and it was quickly replaced by a feeling of delightful happiness. She had just gotten herself enough gossip-worthy material to last her _weeks. _

------------

"And he was TALL!" Arielle said excitedly to a group of nine year olds with looks of rapture on their faces at hearing such a fascinating story. "But it was so dark that I could hardly see anything, so I wasn't able to make out exactly what he looked like. What I remembered, however," she said, lowering her voice dramatically, "were his sinister, green eyes that almost GLOWED with EVIL!"

Sara M. turned to her friend Colleen and asked her, "Don't you think Arielle's taking this whole thing a little too seriously?"

"Not really," Colleen responded, looking at Arielle almost jumping down with excitement as she told her story. "What I DO think is that she has to be careful, or else those nine-year-olds will be following her around and starting a 'We Love Arielle' fan club."

Sara M. saw Stu coming towards her, and quickly said to Colleen, "Colleen, don't you just have this sudden urge to go see how Arielle's surviving?"

Colleen frowned, looking thoughtful. "No, not really."

"Well, umm, don't you wanna…umm…go somewhere other than here?"

"What?" She saw Stu approaching them and looked at Sara knowingly. "OH. _I _see. YOU want ME to GO AWAY so you can be with your BOYFRIEND. Why didn't you just say so?"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Sara said, a little annoyed. "He's my friend. Who's a boy."

"A very GOOD friend, eh?"

"Yes, he is a—oh, shut up, you."

"Sara," Colleen said teasingly, "I'd like a friend who's a boy too, if you know what I mean."

"Then we'll go to the mall and find you one. Now, go away!" Sara straightened her shirt and smoothed down her pants, seeing Stu get nearer and nearer by the minute. Colleen snickered and ran away to join Sara H. and Marissa under a nearby tree.

"Hey," Stu said, fiddling with his hair, which Sara had soon realized was a nervous habit of his. "What's up?"

"Sky. Planes. Birds."

"Ha ha."

"What's up with you?"

Stu rolled his eyes. "David. He's being annoying."

"What's he doing?"

"Nothing really all that bad…it's just, he keeps going on about Laurel and how much they like each other, blah blah blah…I think he's taking that whole thing where I told him in second grade that he could 'tell me anything' because I might as well be his brother and all that a little too seriously."

Sara grimaced. "If either you or I start acting that mushy, we should tell each other to get a grip immediately."

"Agreed!" Stu laughed, turning around when he noticed someone tugging insistently on his shirt. He looked down, and saw Arielle, smiling a little too widely up at him.

"Have you heard about what happened to me?" Arielle asked excitedly, "You know, when I was in the theatre and the Phantom came up to me and—"

"Yeah," he said calmly, "I heard."

Arielle's face fell. "Oh." Then, it lit up again: "What about you, Sara?"

"Yup. Heard it. Actually, I think you've told it to me three or four times now."

Once again, Arielle looked totally deflated.

"Hey, I'll bet there will be lots of people who haven't heard your story at the sleepover," Stu said reassuringly.

"Sleepover?" Sara questioned, confused.

"Didn't you hear?" Stu responded, "Pam's hosting a sleepover-party at camp on Friday…all the guys in the Makeup room and all the girls in the Vocals room."

"And we get to hang out with each other on the lawn!" Arielle continued excitedly.

Sara snickered. "Don't you think it's a little funny the _guys_ get the makeup room…?"

Stu scowled. "A little, but not enough to snicker at."

"Snicker. Snicker. SNICKER."

"Gahhh!"

"You two are funny," Arielle said, once again gleeful. She could never stay sad for long; that was just her nature. "See you later!" And off she skipped.

"God," Stu said, glancing at her as she scampered up to an unsuspecting camper and talked her up, "that girl skips more than is probably healthy."

"We all should skip more often," Sara said, mentally hitting herself. _What kind of thing was THAT? We should all **skip **more often? Who says that? _

"True," Stu said, extending his arm. "Shall we?"

And so, Sara found herself skipping along the path of the park, arm in arm with Stu…Wait. Why was she skipping? The one thing she had sworn to_ never _do? Oh yeah--because it was Stu, and he was worth it.

**A\N: See? Things ARE getting more interesting! Next chapter will probably start the story you all know and love...with twists, of course. Thanks for reading!**


	7. Sprite is Good for the Soul

**A\N: Yeah. I'd be mad at me too. I know that more than a month without an update is bad...but I'm sorry! School has been hell lately and I've got a lot on my plate. I also know that this chapter isn't what I hoped it would be, but I hoped to get SOMETHING up for you guys. I will try to update soon and finish what happened at the end of this chapter..haha...I attempted a cliffie...hahahha I am lame...but WHO CARES! DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW! GAHH! **

What happened on the Friday of the much-anticipated sleepover at Drama Camp can be described in two words:

Absolute chaos.

All day, the counselors found themselves becoming increasingly frustrated with their students, who seemed to be more distracted than usual. Everyone was talking about the sleepover as if it was the social event of the year (even though by most people's standards, the event was to be far from glamorous). By the second-to-last class of the day, the counselors were properly worn out and the campers were so hyped up that people were generally concerned that they would explode at any given moment. Perhaps one of the more excited ipeople that was in the theatre at that time was the guy that was the object of Arielle's stories, the mysterious Voice that Laurel had come to know and trust…the Phantom of Drama Camp, perhaps…He was becoming increasingly more nervous every second that passed by; he could hardly wait until Drama Camp was over, so that he could have the theatre to himself for a few hours before the people arrived. He needed to prepare.

His thoughts turned to his favorite thing in life as he nervously paced the booth, looking down at the rehearsals that were taking place before him. He always loved watching Laurel perform, even when she stumbled with her lines or her voice cracked. He thought it was endearing when she blushed after making a mistake, how she laughed softly at her friends' comments in the audience, how she held her pen delicately in her hand as she wrote down blocking and notes from the director.

_Tonight, _he thought, _tonight she will finally see me. Tonight she will be close to me, close enough to touch…_he shivered at the thought. Tonight he would reveal all the love he had for her in his heart; he would explain to Laurel how much she meant to him, how much he cared for her safety and welfare more than even his own. She would understand how much they needed each other, how she could save him from his loneliness. He would show her that she didn't need that stuck-up, pompous little prick that called himself David, who obviously didn't know his ass from his elbow…so how was he supposed to take care of a whole other human being?

He smiled to himself and settled down in one of the technician's chairs and continued to watch rehearsals.

Laurel arrived at Drama Camp fifteen minutes before the sleepover was scheduled to start, eager to see her friends for at least a while. The Voice had requested her presence in the theatre tonight: he said that he had something very important to talk to her about. As much as she loved being with her friends, she figured that she could spare some time to be with the Voice, who sounded as if he had not a friend in the world.

Suddenly it occurred to her that it would be quite difficult for her to sneak off unnoticed during the actual party: not only were camp counselors everywhere, but her friends would surely notice her disappearance early on and search for her. She had not heard Arielle's account of her meeting with the Voice directly, but the rest of Drama Camp had, and now that everyone knew that a "phantom" existed, they would be all the more eager to find him, and her disappearing would be seen as a perfect opportunity to search. She couldn't let that happen. _I'll just go when they're all asleep and the lights are off, _she thought. True, she was deathly afraid of the dark, but she really had no choice.

She could hear the merry sounds of laughter coming from the Vocals room, where all the Drama Camp girls were supposed to be sleeping. As soon as she entered the room, she was overwhelmed by the insane whirlwind of activity that greeted her.

Now, all of you must understand that those who attended Drama Camp (for the most part, anyway,) did not understand what the words "talking in quiet voices and keeping things in order" meant. Therefore, it was obviously useless for the counselors to tell the girls of Drama Camp just that. As Laurel could plainly see, there was stuff everywhere, and there were several girls that were screaming on top of their lungs. Somewhere in the background there was music playing, but the talking and laughing was so loud that it could hardly be heard at all.

Laurel closed the door behind her and took a seat near her friends, who were gathered in the corner, talking excitedly. Colleen and Sara H. stood in the center of their little clump, obviously telling a story.

"Okay," Sara H. was saying, "So we were at the mall today, and we thought 'Hey, let's go to Chic Fil A, so—"

"Let me tell it!" Colleen interrupted. She then cleared her throat and continued, "So…we went to Chic Fil A, and I went up to the guy at the counter and ordered a Sprite, which is perfectly normal, don't you think?"

The group around her nodded.

"Yeah, but as soon as I placed my order, this guy just kind of stared at me like I was some sort of goddess and said 'I love Sprite!' in this amazed voice—"

"Someone's in loooove!"

"Oh, be quiet Arielle." Colleen rolled her eyes and sat down with the rest of the group.

"But the story isn't finished!" protested Sara Hill. "You didn't tell us his name."

"…fine. Gerard."

The group oohed and aahed in a manner that closely resembled the studio audience on a very cheesy TV show.

"And don't forget his sexy friend Ubaldo!" Sara yelled, and her friends laughed heartily. "No, no, I'm SERIOUS—he was the one working the soda machine! He was actually pretty nice."

"It's a goddamn soap opera!" Sara M. proclaimed with mock horror. "I can just see it now—the soda machine brought them together, but not all wounds can be healed by the love of Sprite…some things go deeper than soft drinks! Tune in next week for the season premiere of---The RB!"

"The RB?" Laurel asked.

"Redondo Beach. You know, like the OC?" Silence. "No one gets me."

This eventually morphed into a debate on whether or not The OC was a soap-opera in disguise that went on for several hours. The girls laughed, talked, played music loudly and danced until about eleven o'clock, when activity abruptly came to a halt when Melynda and Pam came charging through the door and pulled the plug on the boom-box.

"ALL RIGHT EVERYBODY," Melynda said, rather loudly at that, and everyone immediately shut up and paid attention. (Melynda was the kind of person that you just didn't ignore if you valued your life and well being.) "It's 11:00, time to quiet down and go to sleep."

There were a few disgruntled groans from the younger campers, but after they were glared at by Melynda, everyone complied. Sleeping bags were rolled out, pillows were fluffed, day-clothes were thrown aside and were replaced with nightgowns and pajamas, and finally, everyone settled down into their bags with flashlights in hand. A few moments after all of this was accomplished, the lights were turned off and people eventually turned off their flashlights and tried to sleep.

Laurel waited about half an hour until she was sure that everyone was asleep and her disappearance would not be noticed. Carefully, she stood up and made her way across the sea of sleeping bags until she reached the door. She gently eased the door open, and stepped out into the chilly night air, closing the door softly behind her. As she walked across the soft grass, she couldn't help but feel like an idiot for not wearing shoes—or a jacket…it was _bloody _cold!

By the time she had gone through the darkened lobby and entered the theatre, she was feeling slightly sick to her stomach. The cold, combined with her fear of the dark and her nerves at what exactly the Voice wanted to talk to her about, was making her heart twist around in her chest in an uncomfortable way, but she willed her hands to open the door to the theatre and her feet to move inside.

She walked slowly to where the audience began. "I—I'm here," she stammered, nervous and cold in the dark room, "just as I promised."

"Thank you, Laurel," the Voice replied suddenly, "I was beginning to think you weren't going to come." He sounded so dejected when he spoke these few words that it made Laurel's heart break.

"No!" she cried out, "You mustn't ever think that! I will _always _come when you ask me."

There was a pause. Then, the voice asked her: "Laurel, will you always remain faithful to me?"

"Yes!" Laurel replied without thinking. "You are my friend, I would never betray you."

"Then," the Voice said, his voice growing stronger and louder, "if all you say is true…I think it is high time that you should see me."

Laurel heard a door open (did that come from the booth?) and someone descending the steps of the audience, coming towards her. She suddenly felt a jolt of fear and excitement all at once pass through her, and she backed up against the door which she had come through, trembling. She still could not see, but she certainly _felt _a strong hand rest on her shoulder, and a voice say, "I thought you were past being afraid of me, Laurel." She tilted her head up slightly, and glimpsed two almost luminescent green eyes gazing down at her. When the figure took her hand gently in his and began to lead her along the path to the other side of the theatre, she did not object: she was spellbound.

As they moved along the path she knew well, and eventually came to the dim hallway leading to the attic, she was able to see a bit more of the guy who had been the Voice, and was transfixed by what was before her. He was tall—he had to be, for he loomed quite a bit over Laurel, who was five feet five inches tall—and thin, with pale skin and dark, messy hair that nearly came down to his neck. He was dressed in all black, wearing a high-necked black shirt, black trousers and a long, black coat. Black fingerless gloves covered his hands, she noticed, and she couldn't help but wonder why he was wearing them, as it was growing increasingly hotter the farther into the back of the theatre they went.

Finally, they came to a set of rather steep and ladder-like stairs, with a rail on each side to hold on to as one ascended. He turned to her, letting go of her hand to make an "after you" gesture with his hands. Laurel gingerly stepped onto the first step, latching her hands onto the rails. She looked behind her at her guide, who smiled reassuringly at her, giving her confidence that he wouldn't let her fall. She faced forward again, took a deep breath, and began to ascend to the room at the top of the stairs. She had hardly gone up five stairs when she felt herself slipping—_Oh no, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die!—_and falling backwards, but a strong arm wrapped around her waist, and she was quickly righted again. The arm withdrew from around her, and she felt a hand pat her on the back and a voice say, "It would be best not to do that again, for I might slip as well."

At last, the stairs ended. Laurel turned around and gazed inquisitively at her escort, who reached forward and turned the knob on the door they were facing and opened the door into the Phantom of the Drama Camp's attic dwelling…

**A\N: Mwah. :)**


	8. All shook up

**A/N: I'M NOT DEAD! I'M NOT DEAD! I am sooo sorry this has not been up for so long. It was a btch to write! Well...I won't waste your time with meaningless crap...READ THE STORY! And review! Thank you! **

** Oh, and thank you Saloma-Kiwi for all the nice comments! I thought my story had been lost forever when you reviewed. Thanks!  
**  
Sara M. was pissed. Really pissed. So pissed, in fact, that you could practically see the anger and worry in her eyes (which doesn't occur that often---I mean, how often can you see through someone's EYES–wait...sidetracked. Back to the story now!) . Everyone she passed gladly scooted out of her way; there were no misunderstandings between any of them that she wouldn't trample them if they got in her way.

She had woken up that morning feeling fine–fresh as a goddamned daisy!–and it had taken awhile for her to fully register what Laurel's empty sleeping bag had meant. She wasn't too concerned at first, but after she had checked the bathrooms and Laurel was nowhere to be found, she actually began to worry. In desperation, she even checked the Makeup room (where all of the boys were sleeping), which was where she found herself at that moment, pushing through huddles of very shocked boys to find someone who would actually help her in her search.

Soon enough, she found a familiar tuft of blue hair sticking out from the corner of a sleeping bag. Sara reached down and yanked on it, and sure enough, a very disgruntled-looking Stu emerged.

"Ow!" he yelled, "Jesus Christ, David, what did you do that for, you know how sensitive my...scalp...is," he finished weakly, realizing who, exactly, was standing over him.

"Oh, I just KNEW how happy you'd be to see me," Sara said sarcastically. "Now come on, one of our own is missing."

"Missing? Ah, but of course you came to me, the gallant knight, to assist you on this great quest," Stu stated in as deep a voice as he could muster, standing up and putting his hands on his hips.

"Yeah yeah," Sara sighed, grabbing the crook in his elbow and pulling him through the room and out the door.

Stu stared at her with admiration. "Woah...forceful, are you?" Sara chose to ignore this.

Sara's frenzied search was beginning to attract attention, and several curious heads peeked out of their respective dressing rooms, including that of Phyllis, Andrea, Marissa, and others, all of whom immediately rushed out of their rooms and began following Stu and Sara, creating a good-sized train. Phyllis, being...well...Phyllis, was soon at the front of the line, interrogating Sara within an inch of her life.

"So, what's all this? Who are we looking for? Why do you look so pissed? What–"

Andrea soon broke in with questions of her own. "What's going on? Why does everyone look so agitated? WHY WON'T ANYONE TELL ME ANYTHING!"

Sara threw open the doors of the theatre building and stepped inside, scanning the room for any trace of her friend. She was beginning to give up home when, out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a dark shape leaning against the back wall. Sara approached the huddled figure tentatively, somehow knowing who it was. "Laurel?" she asked softly, suddenly getting the feeling that now was not the time to be loud. The person looked up–it WAS Laurel, although she didn't look like herself at all. Her eyes were bloodshot and damp, her hair was slightly mussed, and she looked positively exhausted.

"What? Oh–Sara!" she said weakly, stumbling to her feet and wiping her eyes.

Now that Laurel was actually talking again, Sara's annoyance returned. "Where have you been?" she asked, raising her voice slightly, "We were worried about you–thought you'd been kidnapped or something!"

"You sound like my mother!" Laurel said, emitting a very forced laugh, which was met by silence. Laurel's thin facade began to crumble, as she looked nervously around at all of the people who were staring at her. "I–I was just in the bathroom," she said quietly, her voice cracking, "What's the big deal?"

Before Sara could respond to any of this, she was pushed aside by an exasperated-looking Phyllis, who promptly grabbed Laurel's arm and ushered her out of the theatre. As they walked out, Sara noticed something that she didn't catch before: over her nightgown, Laurel was wearing a large black jacket that was obviously too big for her. Where did that come from? Sara thought, suddenly becoming worried for her friend. She was going to have to talk to someone about this...but who?

And then it hit her. Phyllis! The only one of their group who had always seemed to know the most about what was going on at Drama Camp, the one who had looked the most alarmed when she had seen Laurel slumped and crying on the floor, the one who was always quiet and mysterious and maybe just a little paranoid–maybe she would know what was going on!

Before she had a chance to really think about what she was doing, Sara ran out of the theatre door nearest her, through the lobby, and out of Drama Camp campus, just in time to catch Phyllis heading to the parking lot. However, before she could even open her mouth to say anything, she hear someone behind her shout "Wait!"

All three of them–Phyllis, Sara and Laurel–spun around, only to find a very worried David running to catch up with them. Laurel began to go towards him, a strange look on her face, but was soon stopped by Phyllis, who said something (Sara could not quite make out what it was) that made Laurel stop cold.

"Laurel!" David exclaimed, coming towards Laurel. She stepped back. "Are you okay? You looked really scared back there. Do you want to–"

Before he could finish, Phyllis cut him off. "Laurel is going to go home," she said sharply. "She will see you on Monday." And with that, both of them headed towards Phyllis's car, which was parked a few feet away.

"No! Wait!" David cried, advancing towards them and causing Phyllis to turn around again, this time quite angry. "Let me talk to LAUREL, Phyllis."

You idiot! Sara thought, Just let them go! Anyone with brains could see that Laurel was...well, unstable, and that Phyllis was in a foul mood. In fact, she was beginning to doubt that David even had a brain at all. 

Phyllis sighed. "David, I'm sure Laurel really doesn't need this right now. What she needs is to go home and rest, and right now, you are denying her of what she needs. Do you want to do that?" Phyllis slowly advanced towards David, near-murder in her eyes. She looked up at him menacingly, and Sara almost laughed at how intimidated David was becoming.

Laurel stepped forward, putting a hand on Phyllis shoulder and gently forcing her back. "Phyllis, really, it's okay. Let's just go." She looked at David for a moment, and Sara could see that Laurel really was sorry about the whole affair...whatever that happened to be.

Phyllis walked up to Sara, who had just been standing there, watching the scene unfold. "Will you tell my sister to get here, please?" Sara nodded and left, off to get Andrea. Maybe someday she would know what the heck just happened, but for now, ignorance was bliss.

---------------------------

After driving her sister and a near-hysterical Laurel home, Phyllis decided that she should see how her other friend was holding up. She hadn't been able to get much out of Laurel regarding what had happened, but from what she gathered, Laurel wasn't the only one who was hurt last night. So, once again, she found herself driving back to the playhouse, parking, running–no, walking briskly!–against the traffic of departing Drama-Campers to reach the theatre, walking through the twisty-turny passages that she now knew well, going up the steel ladder (which she had always hated), and finally stopping to catch her breath on the landing that stood before the door to the attic. Clutching her side, she knocked on the door three times and waited for him to open it. She stood there for a few seconds, but nothing happened. She knocked again. "Come on, it's Phyllis!" she cried, annoyed. Still nothing. She tried the doorknob–it was unlocked! With this in mind, she tried a new tactic. "If you do not open this door RIGHT NOW, I am going to come in there anyway!"

This time she got a response. "Go away," came a muffled cry from inside the attic.

Phyllis sighed. Well, she had warned him. Slowly, she turned the doorknob and opened the door, creeping inside. She soon saw him, sitting with his back to her on a stool in the corner. Carefully, she approached him. He soon sensed her presence and turned to her, and Phyllis could see that he had actually been crying. She reached out a hand, hoping to console him, but he withdrew from her.

"So, I see you've come to see the freak," he said bitterly, his voice cracking.

"You know I don't think of you that way," Phyllis said sternly. "I'm your friend. Come on, tell me what happened."

"It doesn't really matter, in the end," he said. "All that matters is that she hates me and never wants to see me again." He leaned and stared at the floor, rubbing his left arm with his other hand.

Phyllis took a few steps towards him. "I'm sure it's not all that bad," she said soothingly. "What exactly did you do?"

He looked up and glared at her, standing up. "Phyllis, I want you to leave."

"But this is important! Laurel is my friend too, and–"

He winced at the sound of her name. "Get out, Phyllis."

"But I–"

"GET OUT!" he roared, stalking off to the other end of the attic, behind a row of boxes that shielded him from sight.

Phyllis didn't need to be told again. She quickly turned around and headed right out that door, down the ladder and out of the playhouse. If only I was twenty-one, she thought. Then I could have a nice bottle of vodka and forget about all this.

Phyllis was going to have a lot to explain on Monday, especially if she didn't want Arielle to make this into the gossip of the summer. The only thing she was sure about, though, was that this was not the end. It couldn't be–her friend wasn't going to give up Laurel easily, especially to that little rat-of-a-boy David.

Oh no. This was only the beginning.

**A\N: dun dun dun! Well, not the best chapter, but it's something! And no, you all are not going to find out what happened that night for awhile, because I am evil like that.**

**Although, I did put in some clues... **


	9. Male or Female?

**A/N: Yes, this chapter might look familiar to most of you. And...it should! It is Chapter Nine, once again..but edited slightly, especially at the end. **

**Heehee. Anyway...if you want to read it again, go ahead, but if you've already read it just skip to the end and read the new part. Tis different.**

**Thanks everyone--please read and review!**

Arielle clicked the phone off for the thousandth time and sighed with frustration. She had called each of her friends at _least _three times–the exception being Laurel, who she had called _twelve times in a row–_but no one had ever picked up. At first, she had just hung up, not even bothering to leave a message, but now she was resorting to leaving extremely annoying messages so that the ones that she knew were screening their calls would get sick of it and pick up the phone. She had left three of these messages on Andrea and Phyllis's answering machine, and planned to leave one more before she gave up. Anyone who ignored her..._interesting_ messages four times in a row either wasn't home or REALLY didn't want to talk to her.

Arielle dialed their number and waited for it to ring once...twice...thrice..."_Hello, I guess we're not here right now, leave a message!" _BEEP.

Arielle grinned almost evilly. "He-llo, Andrea and/or Phyllis," she said happily. "Since you guys _still _aren't answering the phone, I figured I'd tell you about one of my dreams until you do. So, I was at my school, and my teacher, Mr...Mr...well, it was a MALE teacher...or was it?...I think he was somewhat gender confused...anyway, I can't remember this guy's name...but he was wearing a polka-dot dress in yellow and black...or was it pink and red...? Or black and white...? Well, I–"

_Click. _"All right, all right, already!" someone said in a high pitched voice. "I picked up, okay?"

Arielle smirked. "Thank you! Who is it that I'm talking to?"

"Andrea."

Arielle's smile grew even wider. It would be much easier to get information out of Andrea than it would be to even TALK to Phyllis, aka Wall of Stone Death. Or something along those lines. "Andrea!" Arielle exclaimed, "How nice it is to talk to you again. Haven't seen you since...since Friday, right?"

"Well, Friday and a little bit of yesterday," Andrea replied. "My SISTER rushed me out of there so fast that I hardly had a chance to talk to anyone, though."

"Yeah, about Saturday..." Arielle said slowly.

"WAIT." There was a clicking sound, and Arielle could hear feet running up something and a door closing and locking. "OK. Now talk."

"What was that?"

"Me going to my room to hide. I don't want Phyllis overhearing anything...she's been so _touchy _lately. Anyway...ask away."

"Oh, nothing in particular. Just wanted to know if you knew anything more about the whole thing. I know almost nothing."

"Yeah, well..."

Arielle refused to take offense. "Come on! You have to know SOMETHING–Laurel did come back to your house, didn't she?"

"Yeah, but it was like I didn't even exist! As soon as we got home, Phyllis and Laurel rushed upstairs and started whispering about something...every time I tried to listen, Phyllis sent me away!"

Arielle leaned back in her chair and scratched her chin thoughtfully. "But you're _Andrea,_" she said with mock scorn, "You must have been able to get something."

There was a pause. "Actually," Andrea whispered, "I DID hear something you might be interested in."

"Ok..."

"Oh, it's not much, really..."

"Just tell me, already!"

"It's really not even that interesting! I just overheard something about the attic over at the playhouse."

Arielle almost laughed with delight. This was going to be _good_, she could tell. "What? What about the attic?"

"Umm...that was it, actually."

"...What?"

"That was it. I just heard 'in the attic.'"

"You didn't hear anything else?"

"Not really."

"Sure?"

"Sure."

"Super ducky sure?"

"Well...I think I heard something else."

"What?"

"Something about a guy. No, no, don't ask me _exactly _what I heard. All I could really hear was 'Blah blah He mumble dangerous mumble mumble don't get involved whisper whisper don't know blah blah blah!"

Arielle shook her head. "That's really too bad. That you weren't able to get more out of them, I mean. I guess we're just going to have to check it out for ourselves."

"What? But–how?"

"My mom can drive us over there. I'll tell her I left something there...or something. Don't worry, it'll be easy!"

There was silence. Again. _What's with all the dramatic pauses today? _Arielle thought.

"Okay," Andrea finally said. "Be here in fifteen minutes–and be discreet, please! I don't need more crap from my sister about 'loud friends.'"

"Since when have I not been discreet?"

"You are _not _seriously asking me that question," Andrea replied, and hung up.

-----------

"I don't know about this, Arielle..."

"Come on, haven't you ever done something spontaneous?"

"Not like this! Not sneaking around after-hours at Drama Camp looking for someone we're not even sure is really there! I mean, come on. Even if there _was _a 'Phantom of the Drama Camp–'"

"Has it been proven otherwise?"

"–which you seem perfectly content to believe, why would he even still be here? I mean, the guy has to have a _life._ Who would want to hang around the Playhouse all weekend?"

"You'd be surprised."

_Indeed, _he thought. Arielle was right, of course–he was still there and had been there, wallowing in his misery, all weekend. He couldn't even call Phyllis and moan and complain about his situation to her–not after he yelled at her yesterday. His damned _temper _really was getting him in trouble more than he would have liked..._Oh well. It's not worth dwelling on..._he thought, pacing back and forth. _It just shows me I really need to get some more friends. _He peeked at Arielle and Andrea–Laurel's friends, he remembered–from behind the door of the makeup room and watched them walk across the lawn, towards the theatre doors and–they were _opening them? _He inwardly cursed himself for being so stupid as to leave the doors unlocked. Carefully, he slid out the door and quietly walked across the grass and towards the lobby. He easily slipped inside the theatre without being noticed by Andrea and Arielle–who was becoming a little too excited and giggly, he thought–and waited by the door, certain of their destination.

Sure enough, Arielle was soon spotted strutting towards the very spot he was hiding, a reluctant Andrea behind her. "Oh come _on, _Andrea!" Arielle said, annoyed, "At this rate, it will take us years to even _get_ to the attic!"

Oh crap. They were coming for him.

_Think fast, think fast! _He thought anxiously, wondering what could distract two teenage girls from whatever they thought was up in his attic... (Which, of course, they could NEVER get into...what if they found all of his stuff? They would rifle through his clothes and read his papers and his journal and—no, no, they _must_ be kept away.)

_Of course_…! He didn't know that much about Andrea, but he did know that there was one thing Arielle loved more than anything else. He would just have to show them to her. _But what if they aren't there anymore? _He found himself thinking. Oh well. It was the only choice he had. Quickly summoning up his confidence, he drew himself up to his full height and let his voice echo across the theatre–

"What are you two doing wandering around here?"

He smirked when he saw Arielle's confident demeanor wither slightly, and Andrea run behind her companion to hide. "Er...umm...well, that's a good question!" Arielle stammered, laughing awkwardly.

"I thought so," he replied, quietly moving towards the lobby door and slipping through it quickly.

Arielle's head snapped towards the sudden light and she jumped when the door closed suddenly. After standing there for a few seconds, she shook her head and snapped out of a momentary daze–that guy was _really _good at distracting people!–and turned to Andrea. "Come on!" she cried, running to the door and throwing it open, "We've got to see where he's going!"

The two girls found themselves running through the lobby, out the door and across the lawn, every once-in-awhile glimpsing the corner of a black coat or the side of a darkly-colored shoe. Arielle was impressed at how good Mr. Phantom of the Drama Camp was at keeping himself hidden, as there really weren't that many places to hide where they were.

Soon enough, they found themselves standing next to the lockers outside the Makeup Room. "Well...what now?" Andrea asked slowly, allowing Arielle time to catch her breath.

"We go in!" Arielle replied. "I swear that I saw him go through that door, so, naturally, we should follow!" And with that, she grabbed the door handle with both hands and threw open the door.

To their surprise, they did _not _find a trapped Phantom, as they had assumed that they would, and instead found themselves gawking at two (although it looked like one) people wrapped around each other, sitting on one of the tables, doing...well, I'm sure you know what they were doing.

Andrea cocked her head to the side and scratched her chin.

"What are you thinking?" Arielle asked her.

"Male or female...male or female?"

"That's a good question. The one on the right has slightly longer hair...but that could be a guy...if it's a girl, I feel sorry for her, she's kind of strange looking..."

Strangely enough, the two were so wrapped up in each other (no pun intended) that they didn't even notice Andrea and Arielle's rather loud conversation. They just kept kissing...and kissing...and...

"It's almost disgusting," Arielle said dreamily, "But...it's oddly transfixing."

"Agreed. But who are they?" Andrea slowly approached the two, almost as if they were a pair of mating animals—eww—and prodded one's shoulder. They broke away from each other, looking up at Andrea first with annoyance, and then with fear. They scrambled away from each other and sat at opposite ends of the table, the one on the left hugging..._his _knees to his chest! Ah, so one was a boy. But the one with the longer hair...? "Sorry to bother you two," Andrea said quietly, "but we wanted to know what sex you are."

Both of them blushed furiously.

"Oh come on, people! Are we all in sixth grade?" Arielle sighed. "Fine, what _gender _are you?"

"Boy," said the one on the left (who was later identified as a newbie, Ian Toblerone). But the one on the right remained silent.

"Come on, don't be shy!" Andrea said in a peppy manner. The whatever-it-was cringed.

Arielle walked up to the whatever-it-was and touched it's hair. "Yeah, it's okay to–wait, your hair feels all..straw-like."

"Yeah," agreed Andrea, also coming up to feel it's hair, "and what's this in the back? An elastic?" She grinned, and reached behind the person's "hair", pulling off the wig to reveal–

"_Jimmy?"_

Arielle's counterpart grinned shyly back. "Yep."

Arielle's grin lit up her face. "Oh, it's high TIME we had some nice gay boys at camp! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She leaned forward and firmly hugged each of the boys in turn, then turned around and ran out the door.

Andrea blinked. "Er..well..we'll just leave you to...get back to what you were doing!" And with that, she followed Arielle out the door.

"WELL!" Arielle shouted, "I don't think we'll come across any stranger couples randomly making out in the classrooms, do you, Andrea?"

"Er, no..."

Arielle giggled and skipped off to the Vocals room, where they had left their stuff. Once again, she threw open the door–

And there were Sara and Stu, on top of the piano.

I don't think I need to tell you what they were doing.

Yes! They were _playing cards. In dresses. _Yes, you did hear me right, both Stu and Sara were wearing dresses stolen from the costume room. Oddly enough, the sight of Stu in a dress did not shock the two girls as much as when they saw _Sara _in a dress.

Arielle stared.

Andrea stared.

Both of them grabbed their stuff and ran, screaming, out of Drama Camp.

The shadowy figure in the corner chuckled. Yes, he _knew _that would be distracting...and it had earned him a good laugh. The looks on their faces!

Come on, everyone has to have a little fun _sometimes..._


	10. Mall Encounters of a Strange Kind

**A/N: I have no excuse. NO. EXCUSE. I know. But I hope you will all forgive me and read this story that hasn't been updated in EXACTLY six months. Seriously. It'a a pretty halfway-decent chapter trust me. And I'm working on Ch. 11 as we speak!! So read and review and make a starving (well not really) writer happy!!!**

"That'll be $10.50, dude."

"...okay. Wait, what?"

"10.50."

"Oh." David shook his head and dug a twenty dollar bill out of his back pocket, handing it to the cashier and sighing.

"Ok. Your change is $9.50. Have a nice day and thank you for choosing Chick-Fil-A for your consuming enjoyment."

"You too, uh..."

"Ubaldo."

"Ubaldo." David pocketed his change and sighed.

"God, dude, what's with all the sighing?" Ubaldo asked.

"It's just been one of those days, you know?"

"Uh, no."

"Oh." David looked around himself and leaned over onto the counter. "Well, it's my girlfriend," he said quietly. "She's been acting really strange lately."

"Ok, ok, I see what you're getting at," Ubaldo said with a smirk. "You're having, uh, _relationship _issues and are trying to find someone to give you advice..?"

"I just need someone to talk to," David admitted, obviously embarrassed.

Ubaldo gave him an odd look and then motioned for David to follow him. David climbed over the counter and the two of them ducked behind the cash register.

"Listen dude," Ubaldo said quietly. "_Guys_ don't do this. We don't go around _talking about our feelings_. That's not how it works."

"It's not?"

"NO. And you ESPECIALLY don't ask about that kind of crap from a random guy at Chick-Fil-A in the Mall. You have to be quiet about it. You have to ask people you know and trust and who won't tell anyone you came to them."

"You do?"

"Yep. Now get out. It's getting cramped back here."

David climbed out behind the counter, smoothed down his pants, and set off, drink and food in hand, to one of the polished black tables in the Food Court to gather his thoughts. Little did he know that less than ten feet away sat a teenage boy dressed in a dark hoodie that covered most of his forehead, sunglasses, and dark jeans, that hated David more than anyone else on the Earth. However, this same guy was also a pretty good actor, so he managed to put on a pleased face to get up, walk over to the table David was sitting at, and sit down across from him.

David peered at the guy suspiciously before talking a sip of his soda and asking, "Er, how can I help you?"

The stranger grinned. "Ah, but the question is not how _you _can help _me_, but how _I _can help _you._" He leaned over the table and grabbed David's drink, removing the lid and taking a big gulp of soda.

The annoyed teenager snatched back his soda and withdrew in his chair. "I don't get it. What, exactly, do you want?" The guy smirked, and David was filled with a sudden desire to tear those stupid sunglasses off his face and take him on, right here in the Food Court. Instead of acting on this, though, he gave him a rather strained smile and slurped his drink loudly.

"Well, the guy said, "I'm friends with someone who works at Chick-Fil-A...you know him I think; tall-ish, dark haired, vacant expression...?"

"Ubaldo?"

"Yeah, that's right. Ubaldo. Anyway, I'm friends with him—real good friends, trust me, we go way back–and was heading over to his station to say hi when I couldn't help but overhear the conversation you were having with him."

David grimaced. "Oh."

"Oh no, oh no, don't take it like _that_. It's nothing to be ashamed of!" the stranger said, reaching around and thumping David on the back (kind of hard, he couldn't help thinking). "We all have our…relationship problems. Now, what are yours?"

"My whats?"

"Problems. With your…girlfriend. Do you forget her so easily?" the guy asked, his voice rising slightly.

David took a deep breath in and out. Should he tell this random person (who didn't seem to like him very much) what had been worrying him? Should he really disclose his most private thoughts to this total stranger?

_Hell, why not?_

"Well, you see," David began, scooting his chair closer to the stranger's, "My girlfriend has been acting really weird lately."

"Ah yes. Now…how long have you two been together?"

David flushed. "Er…well, we're not exactly a couple…yet. But we both really like each other, so I think it's safe to assume that when she's acting a little more like herself, she'll agree to be my girlfriend."

He could've sworn he saw something strange flash in the guy's eyes for a moment, but the whatever-it-was quickly faded away and was replaced by a rather forced smile. "Yes? Well? Continue, _please _do."

"Anyway, we both go to this drama camp—you know, the one a couple of blocks away that's doing _The Phantom of the Opera_?—and we got the leads, so we've been spending a lot of time together…she's a very happy person, so it doesn't make sense!"

"What?"

"Well, this past Friday, there was this big sleepover thing at Drama Camp. Everything was going fine, blah blah, until the next morning. We all woke up, and she was missing!"

"_No."_

"Yes! And when we finally found her, after much searching, I must say, she was slumped in the theater, crying and looking awful. I tried to talk to her, but was interrupted by this one girl who dragged her off and wouldn't let me even TALK to her! I called her all day yesterday, but she hasn't answered any of my calls once!"

"So your question is…why she's ignoring you?"

"Well…yeah! I mean, what could have happened that has made her so distant, so unlike herself?"

His companion didn't say anything for a moment. David twiddled his thumbs, feeling awkward in the silence. Finally, a response: "Did you ever think that maybe it's not _her _that's the problem?"

David's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Well, _obviously _she doesn't want to talk to you…maybe you should actually respect her wishes and keep your distance."

This was a completely new concept for David. He blinked a few times, not being able to comprehend what was wrong with him that made Laurel not want to see him anymore. "But…I can't think of anything I did that offended her…"

"Maybe there's _someone else._"

"Someone else? _Someone else? _It's _Drama Camp, _for god's sake, I think I would have noticed if she was interested in someone else!"

"It's definitely possible. From what you've said, you aren't the most observant person I've met."

The guy smiled, and suddenly David felt as if he was being made fun of. "Who _are _you, anyway?" he asked suspiciously.

The stranger stood up suddenly, pushing his dark glasses farther up his nose and shoving his chair into the table harshly. "It's been nice, this little chat, but I'm afraid I have to go now," he said, and walked away.

David sat still in his chair, staring blankly at his soda, for a few moments, thinking about what the guy had said. Maybe there _was _someone else. How could he not have noticed?

First thing tomorrow, he was going to find out for sure. She _had _to talk to him sometime!

-----

After some poking and prodding (some rather harsh poking on Sara M's part), Laurel had agreed to accompany the two Saras, Arielle, and Marissa to the mall. "You need to get out of the house!" Arielle had said, "You haven't gone anywhere since you got home!"

It was true. But how could she leave? She had spent all day Saturday watching television and thinking about when she was a kid, when she didn't have all of these awful things to think about. All the awful _memories…_but even cartoons and reruns of Gilmore Girls couldn't erase the memory of what had happened on Friday…

It didn't help that she had been getting calls from David all day. She had been sleeping when he called the first time and only vaguely heard the message he left on the answering machine: once she got up and listened to it more closely, though, and recognized David's voice, she resolved not to answer the phone. She needed to take a day for herself, a day where she could escape from the world and not pretend to anyone that she was feeling fine.

Oh well. It didn't matter now. Her friends had herded her into Sara M's car and then into the mall, dragging her along to several stores and trying to get her to try on things, trying to get her to smile or make a joke or act like she usually did. After awhile, the shopping began to cheer her up a little, and she found that her friends were actually making her forget her sad and confusing feelings. They were still there, perched at the back of her mind, but she forced herself to think of happier things, to enjoy her friends' company and the shopping and not dwell on the recent past.

After shopping for about half an hour (enough for Arielle, who wasn't really too big on the whole shopping thing but was enduring it for the sake of her friend's well-being), the company decided to go to the food court and get something to eat. Sara M. and Arielle headed off to the Chick-Fil-A area, while Sara H. and Laurel went to get smoothies.

As the two friends headed towards the smoothie place, Laurel spotted Adriana Spellman, a girl from Drama Camp. The two girls had never really gotten along—Adriana had wanted Christine almost more than Laurel did, but ended up getting Chorus…and Laurel's understudy. Laurel hoped that she would _never _be unable to attend a performance, for the audience's sake—Adriana had a good range, true, but her voice was shrill and obnoxious, and the girl was, frankly, a bitch. During blocking she argued with the director, she was condescending to every one she considered "below her", and, worst of all, seemed to have her eye on David, and would flirt with him every time she thought Laurel wasn't looking. David was oblivious to this flirtation, telling Laurel several times that they were just making polite conversation, nothing more, but Laurel knew better, and knew that Adriana would do anything to top her, defeat her, or make her suffer.

_Please don't turn around, please don't turn around, I was actually having a halfway decent day until you—_

"Ohhhh my GAWD, LAUREL!!!" Adriana had spotted her, and was heading towards her rapidly, shopping bags hanging on her arm.

"Adriana!" Laurel grimaced as Adriana practically slammed herself into her, hugging her and bruising her at the same time with all of her pokey shopping bags.

Adriana withdrew quickly, spotting Sara a few feet behind Laurel. "Oh, uh, hi…hi…"

"Sara?"

"Sara. Right. So, you guys, oh my god, it's SO WEIRD that we ran into each other!"

"Yeah. Weird." Sara nodded.

"Honestly, I didn't expect to see _you _at all, Laurel, after yesterday," Adriana whispered dramatically.

Laurel's face fell. "I didn't think that many people…how did you find out?"

"Oh are you kidding? _Everyone _knows! And personally, I think it's the stress of the part that's wearing you down."

"The…the part?"

"You know. The LEAD. Of the show? Maybe you'd be better off handing it off to someone more…deserving, maybe? Someone who won't disappear in the middle of the night and turn up the next morning looking like shit in the corner of the theater?" Adriana laughed. "An area which is, oh yeah, _off limits _if there aren't any counselors in the building. But I guess rules don't apply to _you."_

Laurel was speechless; Sara, however, had plenty to say. "How _dare _you, you self-centered, egotistical, half-witted—"

"Oh, I wouldn't continue if I were you," Adriana said, smirking. "My father, who, as you know, provides _major _funding for the Playhouse and _all_ of it's programs wouldn't want to hear about me being harassed in the mall by someone in one of the programs he supports…he might just have to pull his money out of the whole thing, and then what would happen to the Drama Camp we all know and love?"

Sara and Laurel gaped at Adriana, the latter finding it hard to believe that Adriana could take their rivalry this far…could she truly be that nasty?

"Adriana," Laurel began, softly, "I don't want to argue with you, but I really don't think that threatening us will help anything."

"Speak for yourself, _Laurel,"_ Adriana sneered, "I find threatening you to be quite fulfilling."

"Laurel, I don't know about you, but I suddenly feel like PRETZELS instead," Sara said loudly, grabbing Laurel's arm and leading her away before Adriana could insult her further.

"I can't believe she would go that far," Laurel said when they were a good distance away.

"I can," Sara said with a snort, and gave Adriana's back 'the finger'. "She'll do anything to get her way, and won't hesitate to crush people who're in her way." She shook her head. "She needs to open her eyes and realize that no one is ever going to like her if her attitude doesn't change."

"Yeah. You're right," Laurel said, looking at the floor.

"You can't let her get to you, Laurel. She's just mean to you because she's…"

"Insecure?"

"Yup, not to mention jealous of you. You heard that remark about your 'lead'—it's obvious she wanted your part!"

"You're right, Sara. You're always right." Laurel sighed. "Let's just…forget about the pretzel. I suddenly don't feel hungry anymore."

------

Adriana sipped at her smoothie as she thumbed through the rack of clothes…50 off, not as if she _needed_ the discount or anything, but she figured she'd check out the sale nonetheless. Her father had given her a few hundred bucks to spend that day, and she might as well make good use of it.

She suddenly caught sight of a lovely light pink cotton cardigan. She lifted it up and removed it from it's hanger, moving over to a nearby mirror to try it on. She slipped it over her shoulders and admired herself in the mirror, proud of her reflection.

"_You might want to get a second opinion on that before you buy it, it makes you look a little chubby, wouldn't you say?"_

Adriana stiffened, then whipped around from side to side, trying to spot the speaker of the voice. "Come on, who said that?" she asked angrily, tearing off the cardigan and throwing it onto the ground.

"_Come now, we mustn't be a diva! Mind your manners, young lady, or else you'll see some trouble."_

"_You'll _'see some trouble' if you don't show yourself immediately!"

"_Somehow I think your bark is worse than your bite, **Adriana."**_

She had no "clever" response for this—he knew her name? "H-how do you know my name?" she asked shakily.

"_That is none of your concern. What you **should **be thinking about is your attitude towards others, especially your peers. If you cannot act decently towards others, you may find that it will come back to hurt you some day...a day that might come sooner than you think."_

"Ohhh, I see what this is about," Adriana said, thinking she knew what all of this was about. "You're one of Laurel Andersen's friends. Listen, I knew she was lame and desperate, but to hire some random guy to scare me in the _mall? _Come _on!" _And with that, she gathered her purse from where she had left it on the floor and left the store, laughing to herself.

-----

He had _tried _to drop hints, but it seemed that some people were just so thick that it had gone right over their heads. He was going to have to take more…_direct _measures. Immediately.

Maybe some nice, friendly letters would get his message across more clearly…

**A/N: And you KNOW they won't. At last, we're getting into some good, Phantomy plot! REVIEW, PLEASE!!!!!**


	11. Far too many notes for my taste!

**A/N: Ha!!!! I bet you're all SHOCKED I got this up!!!! Oh emm geeee, maties!!!! Well, be sure to read AND REVIEW...because reviews inspire me to write chapters more quickly!!! (I only got 3 for the last one...you know who you are...you are AWESOME, YOU ROCK, AND HERE'S A CANDY-CANE!!! Happy Early-Christmas.) **

**And now...NOTES!**

None of the recipients of the notes had expected anything about that Monday to be unusual. It _was _a Monday, after all…what ever happened on Mondays? So, when they all traveled to their lockers at the first break, none of them expected to find a neatly folded piece of notebook paper with their names scribbled on the front amidst their lunches and various knickknacks.

Marissa was the first one to receive a note. She had gone to her locker to get an apple when she spotted the slip of paper, her name on the front in a spidery scrawl she didn't recognize. Slowly, the paper in her hand, she grabbed her apple in her other hand and leaned against the locker door to close it. She unfolded the paper and took a hearty bite into her apple, heading over to a bench nearby to sit down.

_Hello and good morning!_

_Don't worry; you have been doing fine so far with the show. True, there are some areas that **I **would do differently, but that's out of your control, I understand. Anyway, you seem like a sensible, well-meaning human being, and I appreciate that, trust me._

_A sensitive, well-meaning human being who could spare a few cookies, maybe?_

_I would much appreciate four boxes of Girl Scout cookies (I know that your mother has plenty and has been trying to get rid of them; think of this as me helping you!) delivered to the side entrance of the theater as soon as possible…_

_And I mean **soon, **trust me. _

_Yours peacefully,_

_A._

Marissa blinked, then read the note again. What was this, who was this _person_ who was writing to her for cookies? She didn't understand it…where was this coming from? Her thoughts were interrupted, however, by someone rushing over to her and shaking her shoulders repeatedly.

"Marissa? Marissa? MARISSA!!!"

Marissa blinked repeatedly. "Yes, yes, I'm here…would you mind stop shaking me? I can't see!" And she couldn't. The shaking was making her eyes tear up, and everything was blurry.

"Oh! Sorry!" She was let go, and Marissa was able to see that her attacker was…David!

"David! Oh, hi…what did you need to say?"

"I can't find her anywhere!"

"Who?"

"Laurel!"

"She's not here today, she hasn't been all day."

"Not here? Then where is she? I thought she would be with you! You _are _her counterpart!"

"Just because we're both Christine in the show doesn't mean I know everything about where she is and what she's doing, David."

"I know, but…but…" He sat down and hung his head heavily in one hand. Marissa suddenly spotted a piece of paper identical to her own note hanging in his other hand.

"David, where did you get that note?"

He sat up. "This? It was in my locker. As soon as I read it, I had to come find you—it made me think that Laurel was in danger or something."

Marissa smiled. _Aww. He's concerned. _"Can I read it?"

"Sure." David handed the slip of paper over to her.

_Hey._

_Nothing against you personally, but I think it would be in your best interests to not seek out Laurel Andersen anymore. She is being looked after by someone else much more capable than you could ever be, so do not worry. _

_If you ignore this, you **will **regret it, that I assure you._

_Sincerely,_

_A._

Marissa's eyes widened. "Well, if that wasn't a threat…!"

"But…it _was,"_ David said, taking back his paper.

She resisted the urge to sigh. "Never mind, David."

"So, you got a note too?"

"Yeah, from the same person. Now, the question is…" Marissa paused. "Who _is _this 'A'?"

David opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by Adriana, who stormed by in a huff and yelled at David, "THERE YOU ARE!!! I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU _EVERYWHERE!!!"_

"Umm…I'm sorry, Adria—"

"Oh? You're _sorry, _eh? Aren't you sorry for thisthis _note _too?" She thrust a slip of paper in front of David's face dramatically.

David delicately slipped the paper out of Adriana's hand and began to read.

_Adriana._

_There's no need to be childish here, so I shall make this brief. Your remarks towards a certain Miss Andersen's health are out of line. Just face it—there is no way in **hell **that I will ever see you take her place on the stage. If you attempt to sabotage her in any way, you will regret it._

_Signed,_

_A._

David looked up in shock. "What makes you think_ I_ sent this letter?"

"Jesus Christ, you're her little _boyfriend, _who's being made to stand up to me, when Laurel doesn't have the courage to!"

"That is outrageous—I would never send anyone a note this threatening, Adriana! You know me better than that," He grabbed his note, unfolded it, and presented it to Adriana. "See? I got one too! _It isn't me sending the letters!"_

"Then who IS?"

"That, Adriana, is the question of the day," said Marissa. "Listen, it has to be someone Laurel knows—most of the letters _are _about her."

"Where _is _she, by the way?" Adriana asked, still annoyed.

Just then, Phyllis and Andrea walked up to the group. "Hey, guys," Andrea said cheerfully.

"Do _you _know where Laurel is?" Marissa asked politely.

"Oh! Yes. She was going to come to drama camp today, but decided to stay home," Phyllis explained.

Andrea added, "I think she needed some rest."

David brightened. "Thank goodness she's safe…by the sound of those letters, I thought she was in trouble!"

"Trouble?" Andrea looked at David skeptically. "What _sort _of trouble?"

"I don't know…it doesn't matter, now—she's fine! When can I see her?"

"I don't know. She doesn't want to see _anyone_ right now," Phyllis told him.

"Oh."

Determined to wipe the slightly-cute, slightly-disturbing sad-puppy-dog expression off of David's face, Marissa patted his shoulder and said, "It's okay, David. You'll see her again soon." She turned to the rest of the group. "At least this whole notes business is over!"

Phyllis winced. "Well…not really. I have a note."

"Let me see it!" everyone shouted in unison.

Phyllis's eyes widened and she backed away, handing the note to Marissa, the least insane-looking of the three. "Sure, sure…just leave _me _out of it!"

_Hello, all._

_By now you have most likely received the notes I had sent to you. As we are all civilized, mature human beings, I trust that you will follow my instructions and not ignore my commands. Beware, for if you decide to anger me in any way, shape or form, a disaster beyond anything your teeny brains could comprehend will occur. I **guarantee **it._

_Respectfully,_

_A. _

"Oh please! Like this doofus would actually do anything drastic!" David said, irritated.

"Shocking! Outrageous! Insulting! Wait until my _father _hears about this!! Or Pam!!" Adriana ground her teeth. "Anyone who insults _me _pays for it!"

"He would actually cause a'disaster'…over cookies?" Marissa asked herself, more amused than anything else.

"You people have to be careful what you say!" Phyllis said sternly. "You can't disobey this guy—he'll find out and then we'll all be in trouble!"

"What _ever,"_ Adriana scoffed, "It's not like he's everywhere we are! We can do whatever we want to?"

"I don't like being ordered around any more than you guys do," Marissa said, standing up, "But there's not much we can do."

"There is something we can do, Marissa," David said, also standing up. "Nothing."

"Ignore him?!" Phyllis exclaimed, aghast. "But—people—he knows everything! He sees everything! Didn't you read the freakin' letters?!"

"Oh shut up!" Adriana yelled. "Any more of this crap and I will _leave!"_

"No, Adriana, you can't leave! Since Laurel isn't here, we need you in rehearsal! You're the understudy!" Marissa told her. "_I _certainly don't want to have to go to her rehearsals today—I have my own classes!"

Adriana was silent for a moment. "Well…I suppose I _should _start practicing for the part…"

"No!" Phyllis cried (again), "He won't mind if Marissa does the part, but he'll be _furious _if Adriana even—"

"I've said this a thousand times—_he can't do anything!" _Adriana said exasperatedly.

David had wandered off to the side and begun whispering to himself…Marissa was able to make out snatches of what he was saying—"_But who….that person in the mall…maybe he was right…what if Laurel….someone else…in trouble or in paradise?..." _

Marissa found herself questioning David's sanity—the poor boy was whispering to himself in a dramatic fashion, which was quite unlike him. _All of this stress must be taking a toll on his common sense_, she thought to herself. It was certainly affecting the other members of the group; Adriana had begun fanning herself with her hand and doing scales (quite badly), Phyllis trying to convince her to "stop before someone hears you, for goodness' sake!"; Andrea had wandered off in search of something better to do (and more sane people to talk to)…and she, herself, was feeling a little nervous—over a stupid note about _cookies! _All of this was honestly too much.

"LISTEN…everyone," she said a little louder than usual, to get everyone's attention, "It's almost the end of break, and I really think we have to head off to class..."

"Sure, sure," David said loudly, startled out of his mumblings. "Class. Right." And with that, he headed off in the direction of his locker to get his stuff. Adriana followed him, still singing loudly, tapping David on the shoulder and trying to get him to listen to her. Marissa threw away her half-eaten apple in a nearby trashcan and went to go check the schedule. Phyllis headed towards the kitchen, but was soon stopped by a finger tapping her shoulder when she passed a shadowy area near the building.

She turned around. "What is it?"

He shook his head, pressing his finger to his lips, and handed a note. Unfolding it carefully, Phyllis read:

_I don't think they're getting the point._

_I'm counting on **you **to drill this into their heads. You don't want that disaster I spoke of to occur, do you?_

She looked up in shock, but, as she expected, he had disappeared.

**A/N: This scene (and dialogue, for the most part) should seem farmiliar to all of you...:D**


	12. Typical Indecisiveness from the Ingénue

**A/N: blushes profusely Erm. Well. This is more filler...but it's fun filler. Filler of the Phantom/Laurel interaction variety. Heh. Be sure to read and review--I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'RE READING IF YOU DON'T REVIEW!!! Thank you very much to the people who actually review--you all get cookies and candy canes and such (Yes, frodoschick, I went out and got jolly rancher ones. Just for you. :D).  
**

CHAPTER TWELVE

Early Wednesday morning…

_Dear Laurel,_

_I regret the things I said to you the other night. I was upset, and irrational, and I'm very sorry. I didn't want to hurt you—I **never **want to hurt you, I—_

He stopped in the middle of a sentence and crumpled up the paper, throwing it over his shoulder to land on the floor behind him. _No, no, that won't do at all. _He had to try again.

_Dear Laurel, _

_I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for what happened on Friday. I was afraid of what you would think, I was afraid you would think I was a freak, that you would be afraid of me…I don't want you to be scared of me, I love—_

No, no, that wouldn't work either. He couldn't give too much away just yet; he was sure that with if she knew too much about him, she would use it against him and end up breaking his heart—again. This paper joined the other one, crumpled on the floor.

_Dear Laurel, _

_I have no excuse for what happened on Friday. Please, **please **give me another chance. Meet me at the back entrance of the theater today and let me explain myself._

_Yours,_

_A._

"This is going to have to do," he said to himself quietly, folding the paper into thirds and writing her name on it. Maybe there was still something in her that trusted him enough to let him explain himself. He stood up from his desk and chair and began to head down the stairs of the attic. He needed to have this delivered as soon as possible.

Later that day…

Laurel had shown up to Drama Camp on Wednesday morning hoping not to be noticed. It was her duty to show up for rehearsals—she knew from experience how annoying it was when the lead never was there for blocking—but really didn't want to socialize. She wasn't in the mood.

Unfortunately, her wish to be left alone would fall on deaf ears—a _lot _of them.

She hadn't been at camp for five minutes when she was spotted and ambushed by Adriana, who demanded an explanation for a letter she had received the previous day. Laurel could do nothing but weakly deny knowing anything about the whole business. "Adriana, I don't know what you're talking about, or what this has to do with me! I promise you, I would never intentionally insult anyone and—"

"Oh _please, _your Little Miss Innocent act may trick poor little David into giving a crap about you, but it's not working for me!" Adriana yelled at her, spitting as she talked.

"But I—"

"Oh my god, Laurel!" Marissa headed over towards them. "Listen, I know this may seem like an odd question, but how many people did you tell about all those Girl Scout Cookies at our house?"

"What?" Laurel looked back and forth at the two girls, bewildered and already exhausted. "Umm, could you talk to me about this later; I have to get to my locker."

"No, we're talking about this NOW, you're not getting away from this!" Adriana shrieked, provoking the stares of a few bewildered nine-year olds who immediately ran in the opposite direction.

And just as Laurel began thinking that the start of her day couldn't be any crappier, she spotted David coming towards her at top speed. Laurel backed away, shaking her head slowly, not believing her luck.

"Laurel!" he exclaimed, pushing aside Marissa and Adriana, who stumbled and then fell on the dewy grass (they were all on the lawn at this point). "God, it seems as if I haven't talked to you in ages!" He grabbed her and threw his arms around her, drawing her tightly to him. "I've missed you."

Laurel winced and pushed away, even though she was secretly enjoying the contact. "David, I—I can't." She glanced worriedly around her, and then ran past all of them, determined to get away.

"Laurel?" David called after her, weakly. Then he turned to Adriana and Marissa, still sitting on the ground. "What's gotten into her?"

"Who knows?" Marissa said, standing up and brushing herself off. "I almost don't want to."

Laurel ran all the way to her locker, relieved to be out of the way of the temper of Adriana and the affection of David. She sighed. She didn't _want _to reject him, she wanted him to hold her as he did just now and protect her from the world, but no—it was too dangerous. She didn't want David to be hurt…she couldn't bear it.

She pushed all of these thoughts to the back of her mind, determined to have a good day, and opened her locker. However, her determination to be happy immediately evaporated as she saw what was sitting on top of her script and pens—a note with her name scrawled on the front in the same spidery handwriting that she had seen on Friday night when _he _was showing her his—

Trembling, Laurel opened the note, preparing herself for what was written within.

------

_Why am I here? Why did I come here?_ Laurel couldn't help but thinking as she stood, alone in the cold, at the back entrance of the theater…waiting. Maybe she had been afraid of what he would do if she _didn't _come to meet him, maybe she had feared for herself, or David—or maybe there was still a very small part of her that was entranced by his beautiful voice, that _wanted _to meet him and dreamed about how handsome he would be and looked forward to their meetings after camp in the cool darkness of the theater. Maybe there was still a small part of her that enjoyed the attention of a guy, even one that she couldn't see…

Well, she had seen him, seen his secret, and she wasn't sure how she felt anymore.

She closed her eyes tightly, trying to hold back the tears that were becoming more and more familiar to her. _Why are you even crying? Nothing has happened—yet. You're fine. This is just like meeting a friend after camp. Why are you so scared? _Slowly, she opened her eyes, only to see him standing in front of her, dangerously close. She gasped and stepped back—_When did he come? I never heard him!_

He drew back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." She was silent, shivering. "Although I suppose that can't be helped _now…"_ A dark, sarcastic laugh escaped from his mouth.

Laurel gulped. "Why…why did you want to see me?"

He immediately sobered. "I thought my note explained that. I wanted to apologize to you. My behavior on Friday was unacceptable."

"No…" Laurel said quietly. "I was awful. You had every right to—to yell at me like that. I…I don't know."

There was a brief pause. Then—"I didn't want you to see. I wanted things to go differently. I didn't want you to assume things; I wanted you to trust me._ Do_ you trust me?"

Laurel didn't say anything.

"Of course you don't. I should have known." He sighed and went over to a nearby low-to-the-ground wall, sitting on it and leaning over.

She went to him, suddenly feeling a wash of pity for him coming over her. "Do you…do you have any friends?" she asked tentatively, kneeling before him.

He looked down at her. "Those I have are few and far between."

"Maybe…maybe what you need is another friend," she said, weakly smiling at him. "I could be a good friend to you."

He frowned. "Laurel, you should know I don't want that."

Her brow furrowed in confusion. "Then what _do _you want? I don't understand how I can help you."

He stared at her for a few moments, then took her hands in his and pulled her gently towards him. His face inches from hers, he said quietly, "You should know by now I want _more _than a friendly relationship with you, my dear." He released her hands, only to put one arm around her waist. He raised his other hand in the air, and slowly inched it towards her face, his fingertips brushing first her cheek, then sliding down towards her mouth—

Eyes widening, Laurel hurriedly drew back, thrusting his outstretched arms away from her and standing up clumsily. "I—I can't do this, you know I can't, I don't even know your _name, _I don't know anything about you, I don't want to be taken advantage of, I—I—"

He stood up also, moving towards her once again. She stayed rooted to the spot, afraid of what he would do. He reached for her and clutched her arms, then leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Adrian." He held onto her for a moment, and she closed her eyes, wishing he would go away, go away, stop confusing her and making her feel so _strange…_

"Adrian," she said, her voice cracking as she spoke, her eyes still closed, "Please…don't hurt anyone because of me. I heard about those letters."

"All I do is for you, Laurel," he replied. "I will do what is best for you, what will keep you out of harm's way—and if that means hurting people, I'm sorry I don't share your kindhearted and forgiving nature."

And then, she felt nothing. She opened her eyes, and he had gone, leaving her feeling strangely empty and alone.

And more confused than ever.


End file.
